Starting this week, we are altering our format slightly in order to avoid repetition.  Since we don’t read each other’s reviews until we post them, we have occasionally been guilty of repeating ourselves in summarizing film plots.  So, beginning this week, we will outline the story first, then run the two reviews.  Ready, set -- summarize.

Summary

Joe (Bruce Willis) and Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) are prison buddies who escape, quite spontaneously, from an Oregon lock-up and embark upon a series of bank robberies.  They are soon dubbed “The Sleep-Over Bandits” by the media, owing to their modus operandi of going to a bank manager’s house, spending the night with his family, then accompanying the manager to work the next day in order to rob the bank before it opens.  The duo quickly becomes the most successful team of bank robbers in American history, profiled on every crime show on television.  Joe and Terry soon encounter Kate, (Cate Blanchett), who is on the run from a shallow and loveless marriage.  Joe falls hard for Kate -- but so does Terry and she remains unable to choose between the two.  It appears that she will ultimately come between the two friends and bring a swift and tragic end to their successful crime spree.

Steve says:

Two rules for a good comedy -- (1) Be brief; and (2) be funny.  BANDITS comes up short in both cases (if one can indeed come up short by being too long). 

The film presents a very promising situation that never lives up to its comic potential.  To be sure, BANDITS is long on charm, thanks to the three central actors, Willis, Thornton and Blanchett.   They have wonderful screen chemistry that transcends the shortcomings of Harley Peyton’s flawed script, which is full of lines that have the feel and rhythm of jokes, but just aren’t all that funny.  Peyton is a former writer for TV’s TWIN PEAKS and there is little on his résumé to suggest that he’s the guy to go to when you need a comedy written.

I won’t say that BANDITS isn’t entertaining because it is.  But it fails the Harry Cohn ass test.  Cohn, the long-dead CEO of Columbia Pictures, would judge his company’s films based on how his ass felt at the end of a screening.  If it wasn’t sore, he pronounced the movie successful.  Well, my ass was sore.  Director Barry Levinson could easily have trimmed a half hour from BANDITS and improved things immensely.

The three-way love affair doesn’t quite reach its full potential, playing out as a somewhat low-rent version of François Truffault’s 1961 classic, JULES ET JIM.

Bruce Willis never leaves his “ultra-cool” persona far behind in this film, but it works for the cocky character of Joe.  After all, we go to Bruce Willis movies in order to watch him being cool and he doesn’t disappoint us in BANDITS.

Billy Bob Thornton, who is apparently in every film that will be released over the next couple of months, is almost unrecognizable as Terry, the ǜber-hypochondriac sidekick.  But he is wonderful in the role, shedding any traces of the “good ol’ boy” that we’ve seen in everything from SLING BLADE to PRIMARY COLORS.  (Thornton even allows the script to borrow one of his own real life phobias, a very odd fear of antique furniture).  He infuses BANDITS with intelligence and a wiry energy that goes a long way toward keeping us in our seats as the hour grows late.

What can be said about the astonishing Cate Blanchett?  As she did in PUSHING TIN and THE GIFT, Blanchett sheds any traces of her Australian roots with a letter-perfect American accent and physicality.  Her first scene, cooking a gourmet meal for her unappreciative husband while dancing and lip-synching to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” is almost worth the price of admission.

Also deserving of kudos is Troy Garity, son of Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden, who comes into his own as Harvey J. Pollard, a borderline idiot who drives the gang’s get-away car and longs to break into movies as a stunt man.  (Dimbulb Pollard has been known to try to impress girls by setting his hands on fire).

The only casting misstep is comedian Bobby Slayton, who portrays Darren Head, the unctuous host of a television show patterned after “America’s Most Wanted.”  Those stand-up rhythms keep cropping up in his speeches and undercut his believability as the host of a television show that intends to be serious.

As a side-note, I could live quite comfortably for at least a year on this film’s wig budget alone.  This is not only due to the fact that the two male stars are -- ahem -- follically challenged, but also to the series of disguises that Willis, Thornton and Blanchett don as they approach each new robbery.

If you’re looking for an evening’s light entertainment, you could probably do a lot worse than BANDITS.  But it is only the performances of its wonderful cast that allow me to recommend it at all.

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Patty says:

This film took longer to climax than Linda Tripp's prom date.  

I've got to say that I adore Billy Bob Thornton.   Next to Paula Jones, he's probably the most talented actor in Arkansas.  (Of course, I just named every actor that I know from Arkansas).  There is something about this bad boy that makes a gal stick to her seat in the theater.  It's not that he's good looking or well built.  He isn't boyish like Brad Pitt, steamy like Johnny Depp or have one of those Bruce Willis smiles that makes you imagine that a kiss from him is like sucking chocolate off of strawberries.  I'm at a loss to define his appeal, but I think it has something to do with how he twists his tongue around a word with just enough Arkansas drawl to make it sexy.  I'd do him.  Anyway...I digress.

In spite of the excellent performances by Thornton, Willis and Cate Blanchett, this movie took so long to get going that I made three trips to the concession stand before the end of the second act.  It's not that I had trouble suspending my belief in reality enough to buy an escape from a state prison in a commandeered cement truck (ever driven behind one of those snail-wagons on a two-lane highway?).  I was okay with their ability to charm hostages into hosting the duo in their guest rooms the night before a robbery.  I even believed that Blanchett is a natural redhead.  It just took so long to spit out the plot that I was composing my grocery list between scenes.

Thornton and Willis had excellent rhythm between their characters.  They were funny without being slapstick, clever while being believable and their character portrayals were consistent throughout the film.  There weren't many "laugh-out-loud" scenes in the movie, but it was amusing.  Cate Blanchett's character was overpowered by the Thornton/Willis duo to a large extent.  She worked it for all it was worth, however.  The role had potential; there were just too many good characters in the story and not enough good dialogue or plot.

If you can stay engaged through the first two acts, you'll be rewarded by the finale. For once, I didn't have a clue.


(Billy Bob....I'm available for lunch if you want to try for a five).

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