THE CREW

The premise has real comic promise: four retired gangsters stage a fake murder to save their senior residence from being replaced by a richer clientele. Their plan goes awry when a drug lord mistakes the staged crime for a threat from a rival gang.

But the movie squanders that idea with mediocre writing, clichés, weak comic delivery, and shoddy production. Its sets are lush, yet the performances often feel rushed. A few scenes become scathingly funny after about an hour, especially those involving the bumbling drug lord, but the early old-people jokes have already made the film feel tired.

The PG-13 rating also understates the content. For your family, the practical answer is to skip it.

Four retired “wiseguys,” or gangsters, live in a seedy senior residence hotel in South Miami Beach. When management tries to evict the elderly tenants, the men devise one last crime: fake a grisly murder to drive property values down and save their home.

Their scheme takes an unexpected turn when a drug lord believes the staged murder is a message from a rival gang.

Two stars means this comedy has a promising setup and some genuinely hilarious moments, but not enough to overcome its weaknesses. The movie’s Miami Beach sets are lush, and after about an hour it finds its groove in several scenes involving the bumbling drug lord.

The rest suffers from mediocre writing, tired old-people jokes, and surprisingly poor comic delivery from its seasoned cast. The film feels hurried, as though the actors barely memorized their lines and had little time to develop timing. Richard Dreyfuss’s Brooklyn accent is distracting, Burt Reynolds is wasted as a petty bully, and Dan Hedaya has too little to do.

The film presents a pagan worldview with moral elements. Its protagonists are aging gangsters who lie, commit crimes, and fight a local drug lord, yet the story also gives them a sympathetic goal: saving their elderly neighbors from eviction. The movie includes a politically correct moment supporting gun control and unfairly slamming Republicans, according to the source review.

That moral mixture does not overcome the film’s normalization of criminal behavior, violence, prostitution, and drug-related conflict. Its central concern for vulnerable neighbors can echo Scripture’s call to care for others, but the characters pursue that concern through deception and crime rather than righteousness. “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).

A funny idea and a few strong comic scenes cannot rescue this hurried, clichéd production. Its PG-13 rating also hides content better suited to discerning adults, not children or young teens. Our answer is clear: SKIP IT. For better options, see.