Monkey Trouble movie review & film summary (1994)

Meanwhile, we've gotten to know the swarthy, dishonest Azro (Harvey Keitel), a street entertainer who works the Venice Beach area of Los Angeles with his pet monkey, which has been trained to pick pockets and steal watches and jewelry. Azro is not a kind master, and when the monkey sees his chance, he runs away - to Eva's home, which it has scouted out during an exercise in housebreaking and thievery.

The girl and the monkey, which she names Dodger, form an immediate bond. Meanwhile, Azro is in trouble, because he's made a deal with some gangsters who want to use the monkey in a big heist.

That sets up the fairly mechanical plot of the movie, which involves Eva hiding Dodger from her parents while Azro schemes to track down the monkey and get it back.

Okay. This is all more or less routine, right down to the bad guys in the black limousine, who seem to be a convenient shortcut for any screenwriter who needs instant villains on demand. What isn't routine is the performance by the monkey, an adult capuchin, which is small, cute, and very smart, and able to move more or less invisibly through the human world. And the plot isn't just about bad guys and chases; it involves the ways Eva learns to take responsibility for the monkey and herself, in some tight scrapes.

It takes her awhile to figure out that Dodger is a trained pickpocket, who can get her into a lot of trouble. When she goes shopping, for example, he peeks out of her knapsack and shoplifts sardines. The resulting scene with the store manager is like a nightmare: She can't explain how she got the shoplifted goods without revealing the monkey. Another day, when she tries to earn some quick money with the monkey in a sidewalk performance, she's startled later to learn Dodger was collecting billfolds along with tips.

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