Album Reviews
Movies
Concert Reviews

Top 10
Resources
Contact Us

Bandits is is a composite of Bonnie and Clyde and Robin Hood. If Bandits hadn't been filmed on the luscious Oregon coast, you could say it was a better than average bank robber film. However, compared to those large breakers coming in off the Pacific Ocean, the cast diminishes and Oregon tourism flourishes. Barry Levinson (Analyze This) directs the film from a script by Harley Peyton (Less Than Zero.)

This new Bruce Willis (Unbreakable) film co-stars Billy Bob Thornton (OK, so he's married to Angelina Jolie) and Cate Blanchett (The Gift.) The movie is told in a series of flashbacks. It begins with Thornton and Willis contemplating suicide after a botched bank robbery. They have become known as "The Sleepover Bandits" because their method of robbery is to abduct the bank manager the night before a robbery, sleep over and then rob the bank---peacefully---the next morning. They are so nice about everything that people actually begin to help them ("aw, take your time") do their robberies. Cate enters the picture when she accidentally hits Billy Bob with her car. Cate is a frustrated housewife with a husband who makes plaster seem exciting. She willingly takes up with the guys, who naturally fall in love with her, one by one. The public doesn't know whether or not she is a hostage. Oh, yes, enter Troy Garity (the son of Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda). He is Billy Bob's cousin who wants to be a Hollywood stuntman and regularly sets himself on fire to test equipment. Talk about acting genes, well, Garity just about steals the film, even from the Oregon coastline. Thus, is the story of Bandits.

Bruce Willis is so laid back in Bandits, he's almost comatose. Billy Bob is positively frenetic by comparison. They play off each other well; the more morose Willis becomes, the more energetic Billy Bob. The running joke is that Billy Bob is a hypochondriac. An amusing scene in the film is when he thinks he has a tumor and is losing sensation in his limbs. He's dancing with Cate when this happens and their dance goes from upright to dragging him around like a Virginia creeper. Blanchett, with flaming red hair, is high strung. Her choice of disguises, along with those of the guys, is another running gag. The quips come fast but the people in this film could benefit from driving lessons. They are everywhere but on the road.

Though Bandits has its bright spots, it is overly talky and the long camera sweeps of the ocean are a bit too long. The audience loses what interest it has in the film, only to be brought back time and time again. The end credits prolong the story, also. This isn't a Jackie Chan film in which the outtakes are fun, but a lengthening process, which isn't warranted. By this time, I was trying to figure out the shade of Blanchett's hair color and who did Willi's make-up. Enough is enough.

Copyright Marie Asner 2001
10/24/2001