Bandits (2001)

I knew nothing about this film before I watched it. I saw that it stars Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchett, and it made me curious. What kind of film might serve as the intersection of those two disparate careers? Now that I have watched the film, I am glad I did. I really enjoyed this crime comedy. And it all starts with Cate Blanchett. If I had to choose one word to describe her (as a person or as an actress) it would be "mercurial". And her willingness to do the unexpected and to challenge herself comes through every role. Here, as Kate, the woman who (literally) accidentally becomes a part of a crime spree involving two escaped prisoners, she shines. And she is totally believable as the woman who is off-center, somewhat kooky, dangerously unpredictable and still deliciously desirable.Bruce Willis plays Joe Blake and Billy Bob Thornton plays Terry Collins. Joe is spontaneous and confident. Terry is a hypochondriac with OCD tendencies, who is always one twinge away from what he believes to be an exotic demise. Together, they are dubbed the "sleepover bandits". They bicker like Butch and Sundance and similarly dream of a south-of-the-border paradise (filled with tuxedos and margaritas). Eventually, they become popular folk heroes, like Bonnie and Clyde. I think it's no accident that their sidekick/driver is named Harvey Pollard--an homage to Michael J. Pollard, who costarred in "Bonnie & Clyde".The story allows the desperadoes to interact with their "victims", who they treat as family friends. But the main thrust is the development of the triangle between Kate, Joe and Terry. There are some memorable lines and some wonderful moments. This comedy may be somewhat understated for some viewers, judging by some reviews, but it is not so understated as to bypass an opportunity for some incidental physical comedy.

Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Lee Collins (Billy Bob Thornton) are a bank robbing team. They break out of prison and come up with a different scheme. This time around they kidnap the bank managers and rob the bank before it opens. They become known as The Sleepover Bandits. Everything is going well until bored housewife Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) runs over Terry.This should be much better than it actually is. It has veteran director Barry Levinson, and great actors. But something is missing. There is a lack of energy. There is action but they're shot weakly. There are jokes but they lack the punch. Maybe they needed a real comedian in one of three lead roles. The three leads are great actors who sometimes do a few jokes in their roles. They aren't actually comedians.

Although Bruce Willis (as "Joseph 'Joe' Blake") has the top billing in this movie, it is actually Billy Bob Thornton ("Terry Lee Collins") who carries this film with an outstanding and hilarious performance as a hypochondriac who seems to have contracted just about every disease known to mankind. Essentially, Joe decides to break out of prison at the spur of the moment and Terry mindlessly follows him out of the gates. Once outside they decide to rob banks which leads them to fame as "the Sleepover Bandits" due to their penchant of kidnapping bank presidents at night and sleeping at his house prior to robbing the bank the next morning. In one specific botched get-away Terry accidentally kidnaps a passing motorist named "Kate Wheeler" (Cate Blanchett) which further increases their fame. Rather than divulge the entire plot I'll just say that this film had some good moments and some bad moments. The beginning and the end were very good but it seemed to really slow down in the middle. Big time. And while both Bruce Willis and Troy Garity (as the get-away driver "Harvey 'Dog' Pollard") added decent performances, Cate Blanchett didn't seem to have the right chemistry for this movie. Be that as it may, the end result was a good comedy aided primarily by the excellent acting of Billy Bob Thornton. If the bar room scene doesn't make you laugh then nothing will.

It's not a film that's about the direction or the plot or anything technical. This film relies solely on the relationship between it's characters and boy does it succeed. Most of this is due to the great performances from Willis, Thornton and Blanchett who all come together perfectly with hilarious chemistry and they manage to pull the romantic scenes off quite well also. Cate Blanchett is the highlight of the film for me and it's probably my favorite performance of hers just because of how willing she is to just throw herself out there and be as insane as possible. Billy Bob Thornton being cast as the paranoid hypochondriac Terry was the perfect decision, as was Bruce Willis as the intelligent, brutish Joe. Everyone hits their marks perfectly and create a hilarious, entertaining adventure film that I can re-watch over and over again.