Once Upon a Crime...

Though it doesn't really work, there are enjoyable things about it.

Once Upon a Crime could have been a boisterous slapstick comedy, but writing and direction reduce it to the status of the very ordinary. [12 March 1992, p.3E]

SCTV alum Eugene Levy makes his feature-film directing debut with a film that, ironically, would have provided ample fodder for a Second City spoof as a group of US stars chews its way through Italy and France in search of a movie.

Once Upon a Crime is not grand larceny, but not good enough to qualify for much more than rental viewing. [10 March 1992, p.27]

Take away Once Upon a Crime's star-studded cast and sunny Monte Carlo vistas and what you have left is a dachshund in a green plaid vest. An apt image: The movie is a real dog. [12 March 1992, p.F5]

Eugene Levy should be stopped before he directs again. [9 March 1992, p.4D]

Levy can't seem to tell if something is funny or not and keeps up the sledgehammer intensity throughout every scene, comic subtlety and timing abandoned in a desperate attempt for laughs--even pained ones.