Ray (Woody Allen) is an ex-con whose dream is to retire to Florida with his long-suffering wife, Frenchy (Tracy Ullman). Ray's pals call him 'The Brain'. This is meant sarcastically, despite Ray's beliefs to the contrary. In fact, so confident is he of his cognitive capacities that he hits upon a brilliant bank-robbing plan - and is certain it will work. The idea is to take over a shop and run the business as a front, while digging a tunnel in the basement to the vaults of the bank next door. Predictably, the result is a cock-up...but by a clever twist of fate, Ray and Frenchy get rich all the same. In fact, they get spectacularly, obscenely rich. At Frenchy's insistence, they acquire all the trappings of richness and begin to move in the right social circles, where they get dizzy and fall over a lot.
While this isn't Woody Allen's most profound film, nor nearly the most angst-ridden, it's funny and entertaining. Even the bits with Hugh Grant aren't so bad. Watch out also for Elaine May as zany Cousin May, the incompetent loony who comes into her own by the end of the film (striking a blow for incompetent loonies everywhere). Small Time Crooks is a film simply begging to be described as an urban fable...but that aside, it features some hilarious scenes and is genuinely enjoyable.

There's a Chinese proverb: If you have two coins, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a tulip with the other. I'm not kidding, that really is a Chinese proverb. What it's saying is that we should balance humble pleasures with romantic ones, or vice versa, or some such. I think this is what the title is on about. If not, I can't make any sense of it: I don't recall seeing so much as a slice of bread in the entire film.
Rosa (Licia Maglietta) is taking a package tour of Italian ruins with her family (husband and son). When the coach leaves her behind she does what anyone would do: wander around uselessly as if that's going to help somehow. After a while she decides to simply hitch a lift home; then she changes her mind and goes to Venice, a city she's always wanted to see, and before she knows she's built a new life for herself there and has no desire to leave. Soldini shows Venice from the perspective of a resident, not a visitor. The mood in keeping with what I take the title to mean is half-romantic.