By: lainie Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Chemistry and quirkiness--and a stellar cast--help make Barry Levinson\'s Bandits more than just another comedy about ill-matched outlaws. Levinson\'s deft touch in Rain Man is evident in the film\'s road-movie structure, which follows bank robbers Joe (Bruce Willis) and Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) on a crime spree from Oregon to California. They\'re eventually joined by an aspiring stuntman and getaway driver (Troy Garity, son of Jane Fonda) and a neglected housewife (Cate Blanchett) who falls in love with both Joe and Terry after escaping her boring marriage. As scripted by Twin Peaks alumnus Harley Peyton, Bandits shifts from character comedy to crime thriller with reckless abandon, and the humor (particularly Terry\'s multiple neuroses) is occasionally forced and flat. Levinson compensates with offbeat moments of unexpected tenderness, allowing his cast to express depths of character not necessarily found in the script. A twist ending won\'t surprise attentive viewers, but it gives Bandits the extra kick it needs. --Jeff Shannon
Watchable film! This sincere tribute to Sundance Kid thirty years later in the middle of the urban jungle works out with singular efficency due the spontaneus organic chemistry between Norton and Willis as a pair of robbers bank who bet for a new and better life in Acapulco: the golden dream, the paradise in the earth.
This picture rides between the tragedy and the comedy with surprising sucess due perhaps to a witty script that comtains clever twists of fate. Maybe the announced ending from the first minutes of the film was somehow an anti climax, because since this point you will assist to a real chronicle with the common story, from his unexpeceted and never planned getaway and the casual appearance of the lovely and talented actress Cate Blanchet, one of the top ten in the world. She displays a sharp sense of humor as the desperate wife of an boring executive in search of new emotions, imagine on a distant cousin of Geena Davis in Thelma and Louise.
The story is carried on a premonitory interview twenty four hours before ... and so the dramatic facts are shown through this curtain. Levinson shows once more a discipline and astonishing rapport through the comedy. He is not known precisely by this profile, exactly.
Far from pretending be a masterpiece the film works out as an entertainment vehicle to have a good fun and nothing else. But the Sundence Kid paradigm is undoubtedly its highest merit.Levinson's "Bandits" "Bandits" is not the best movie ever made, but it is made with such skill and talent that it rises head and shoulders above the rest of the dreck out there.
Joe (Bruce Willis) has anger-management issues. Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) is a hypochondriac. In prison, they have formed a friendship that each seems to rely on. One day, Joe impulsively decides to break out, using an unattended cement mixer. Terry quickly jumps in and they are free. After they have eluded the cops, they quickly form a foolproof plan to rob banks. They will visit the bank manager at home, the night before, stay with them, and then rob the bank the next morning. Joe enlists the aid of his slow-witted cousin, a young man interested in becoming a stuntman, to be their driver. The first such robbery goes off without a hitch and they quickly become known as the Sleep Over bandits. The threesome split up and agree to meet two weeks later at their next location. En route to the meeting, Terry runs out of gas. Walking to get more gas, he is hit by Kate (Cate Blanchett). She insists on taking him to the doctor and when she figures out who and what he is, she decides to go along for the ride, to escape from her oppressive marriage. Joe is very interested in Kate and the three form a strange sort of relationship.
Written by Harley Peyton and directed by Barry Levinson, "Bandits" is a strange little slice of wonderful. The film tells the story using a strange mixture of styles. At times, we think the story is told in flashback, using a climatic bank robbery in Century City, Los Angeles, as the catalyst. Other times, the story seems to be part of a documentary on an "America's Most Wanted" clone. This strange mix works, most of the time, creating a strange sense of pacing that helps to reveal the characters and keep us laughing at their eccentricities.
Bruce Willis' portrayal of Joe is the least flashy and least interesting. Joe is the strong, silent type and Willis does this well, but he doesn't have a lot to work with here.
Billy Bob Thornton plays Terry with an abandon that we haven't seen from him. Terry is a hypochondriac and he plays the character to perfection. He masterfully avoids crossing over into cartoon territory and manages to keep the character believable and interesting. Sporting a series of ridiculous wigs as disguises and constantly `coming down with something', his character just seems completely different from the type of person he normally plays. Slightly effeminate, high strung, always nervous, he is also extremely funny. I roared with laughter when Terry wakes up and shouts "Rabbits and beavers" at the top of his lungs in a small cabin. This is obviously yet another phobia of his and the point is illustrated quickly and bizarrely.
The first time we see Cate Blanchett, Kate is replacing a light bulb in her refrigerator. As she puts in the blue light, her features are washed in a soft, blue light that only serves to make her already stunning features even more beautiful. The only reason I can think of for this moment is that Barry Levinson was equally captivated with her looks. Can't blame him. Blanchett is easily one of the most beautiful actresses working in film today. Beyond that, she is also an excellent actress. She effortlessly creates the role of a deeply disillusioned American housewife and makes it seem so real. She is also very funny, but her role is more serious, providing a catalyst between the two men. Once both men have fallen in love with her, there is an especially good scene. She knocks on Terry's door. He smiles expectantly, they share a few words. She says good night. Then she knocks on Joe's door. He smiles expectantly, they share a few words and she says good night. She goes to bed alone.
"Bandits" is an excellent comedy for adults to enjoy. The actors are adults and do things adults would do and say funny things adults would do. What a refreshing thing to see. We can laugh at the situations these adults get in as they travel down the West Coast, from Oregon to Los Angeles. Even more refreshing is that the film doesn't rely (or even contain) any `bathroom humor'. We aren't expected to laugh at someone drinking beer with something added to it, or at people acting dumb.
If anything, "Bandits" suffers from the unique pacing it establishes early on. As the film progresses, the mixture of styles and pacing wears a little thin and one of the plot machinations becomes very obvious, slowing things down a little. But this is a small price to pay for an overall excellent film. THE BANDIT CATE While the focus on this cleverly orchestrated movie is on Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton, it is the delightful presence of Cate Blanchett that gives BANDITS its overall appeal. Cate all but steals the film as a frustrated and lonely housewife who finds a way out of her miserable existence when she hits Thornton with her car and then joins him on his rendezvous with Willis. Whether she's dancing along to HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO, or unable to sing along with heartbreaking TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART, Blanchett proves her star status by showing us all the aspects of her character's personality. She can be tender, feisty, sexy or coy, and she makes her character a pivotal point of interest. Bruce and Billy Bob, however, are excellent as the two Sleepover Bandits, whose gentlemanly charm has made them kind of national heroes in the public's warped eyes. Thornton's neurotic hypochondrias is funny and his nervous optic tic adds dimension. Willis shows a sensitive side too, and Troy Garity as their mentally challenged stuntman friend is perfect. Director Barry Levinson lets us down a little in the middle of the picture by slowing the pace a little too much, but by the end of the movie, we are back with the main plot and its predictable yet clever ending is satisfying. BANDITS is a well done movie, and thanks to its talented cast, particularly Oscar nominee Blanchett, it soars.
