Banditen!

Fun but no great shakes. Not the best of Barry Levinson's movies but certainly not the worse either.

Billy Bob Thornton is hysterical as Bruce Willis' partner in crime. Their method of bank robbery is rather considerate, all things considered, and kind of touching. They visit the bank president the night before and get in with his cooperation. Why this happens without incident is anyone's guess, but I don't think its supposed to be deep or insightful or anything, and I don't mean that it insults the audience either.

Cate Blanchett is along for the ride, eventually. She doesn't belong with them, or anyone else, but she adds a lot of fun.

I'd rate Billy Bob's hypochondriac in this alongside Woody Allen's in "Hannah And Her Sisters". 7/10.

The story of two unlikely bank robbers, a sexy accomplice, and a would-be movie stunt man who come together for one last big score. The story is complex enough to keep your attention right up until the surprise ending. Beyond that, though, this is an ensemble character study with four wonderful actors and it is a pleasure to watch them work. Bruce Willis is a tough guy with a believable sensitive side. Billy Bob Thornton is a hypochondriac with a penchant for making trivial observations at extremely critical times. Billy Bob enjoys doing different characters and this is a memorable one. Cate Blanchett is a beautiful woman running from a failed marriage who falls in love with both men. Troy Garity is a cowboy stunt man whose lapses in judgment are made forgivable by his love for his work. This is, for Garity, a very different character from role in "Barbershop". The movie is beautifully filmed in interesting places and there are even a few classy automobiles around. If you enjoy a good story, some action, and good actors working well together, I recommend that you rent this one.

Bandits is a fun film high on average laughs and low on most other things, although I thought Cate Blanchett's performance was pretty good, and actually Billy Bob Thornton was hilarious. Bruce Willis does his usual cool act. The story isn't too deep, so don't watch this if you want something thats going to make you think, but it is definitely an amusing premise, and the odd clever moments serve well enough to raise extra smiles. The direction from Barry Levinson is interesting, but really it's just average stuff, no bounderies are pushed, nothing too daring is attempted. Overall there isn't really much to this, but who cares? It's just for fun. Kick back after a hard days work and just enjoy this entertaining flick.

BANDITS / (2001) ***1/2 (out of four)

Barry Levinson's clever romantic comedy Bandits makes stealing money look fun and simple. I can see it now: young, influential criminals holding up entire banks with magic markers. Certain things in this movie make such perfect sense, we wonder why nobody's thought of them before.

Even the casting makes perfect sense. Who better to play a handsome, spontaneous ladies man than Bruce Willis? And who could portray an intelligent, hypochondriac better than Billy Bob Thornton? Together, these two characters make the perfect man. Of course, it's only a matter of time before a woman becomes involved and finds herself split between the two.

But Bandits is anything but your average run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Willis and Thornton play Joe Blake and Terry Collins, two criminals in a high security prison. As the movie opens, they escape from prison in such a way that probably makes the other prisoners hit themselves on the head and ask "Why didn't I think of that?"

Just as soon as they switch getaway cars, Joe and Terry rob a bank to finance their upcoming adventures. After hooking up with an old friend of Joe's, a wannabe stuntman played by Troy Garity, the criminals devise a foolproof plan to rob banks: they take the bank manager hostage the night before a heist, sleep over at his house, then go into the bank with him the next morning before business hours. No unexpected holdups. No complications. Just take the money and leave before the first customer arrives.

The Joe and Terry dream of escaping to a tropical location and opening a margarita bar. Their success as bank robbers eventually puts them at the top of the FBI's most wanted list. Things become even more complicated when Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) runs into one of the crooks and wants to become a part of their lifestyle. When she falls in love with both men, the situation really starts to heat up.

Oscar-winner Barry Levinsion gives Bandits a humble sense of reality. He doesn't place Joe and Terry on a pedestal and treat them like superheroes; he actually opens the film revealing their presumed demise. Although in interviews he explains that he was initially unsure how to handle the material, his uncertainty does not show in the final production. He has found the perfect blend of romance, action, and comedy to satisfy all tastes and styles.

Bandits opens with a bookend revealing parts of the film's finale. This doesn't really work. Normally, this technique is used when a movie is more about a journey than what actually happens at the end. Although Bandits is indeed more about a journey, the movie's structure does not support such an opening. It doesn't provide us with enough information to work effectively, and, after a final twist at the very end, this technique seems pointless since it doesn't reveal the actual ending, anyway.

Nonetheless, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett deliver fine performances, forming a charismatic, unlikely love triangle. Troy Garity, gleeful and eccentric, steals all of his scenes in memorable supporting role. Despite the various structural flaws, the cast alone is enough to redeem Bandits as an above average comic adventure. It's one of the year's most fun surprises.

BANDITS (2001) ***** Barry Levinson's 'Bandits' is an outlandish story of two prisoners who break out of restrictive quarters and take to the road for a change of pace. They rob banks to get their income, intertwine with a run-away housewife, and are, of course, chased by the law. From the very beginning the movie takes off with such exciting momentum one may wonder if it will keep its pace until the closing scene; yet it does. Terrific turns by Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, and Troy Garrity make this the best film of its kind--where we root for the bad guys--since early cinema. Simply excellent.