Bandits review

Bandits comes on like a latter day Butch Cassidy with two lovable bank robbers and one beautiful woman. But comparing the two films would be like suggesting a Lada and a Bugatti are the same simply because they're both cars. The difference is that one gets you there in style while the other is a slower and rougher ride. That's not to say Bandits doesn't have its share of amusing and engaging moments as its three stars take their broad roles to their limits, but at over two hours a firmer hand was needed to keep things moving and the indulgences in check.

Billy Bob Thornton is Terry Collins, the smart, sensitive partner with more neuroses than a Woody Allen festival. Allergic to everything from antique furniture to Benjamin Disraeli's hair, he's also a walking encyclopaedia of ailments, all of which he's convinced he has. Bruce Willis is the tougher, more impulsive Joe Blake whose impromptu escape from prison using a stolen cement truck starts the two men on their escapade when his inmate pal Terry jumps on board. On the lam and in need of money, Joe decides to rob a bank using the only thing to hand; a pen, causing the more pragmatic Terry to comment, "What are you going to do, write on them?". With Joe harbouring the idea to one day serve margaritas in his own Acapulco hotel, clearly a more effective plan is required with which to finance his dream.

The two men hook up with Joe's dim-witted cousin Harvey (Troy Garity), who has his own dream of becoming a Hollywood stunt man, and embark on their scheme to rob banks by staying overnight at the manager's home before accompanying them to the bank the following morning. Being imbued with a sense of style, to this simple and ingenious ploy the two add the novel feature of disguising themselves in a variety of outlandish costumes. For the poor managers, being robbed was one thing, but being robbed by an Elvis Costello lookalike and a character from The Great Gatsby give proceedings a farcical air. It's an example of how far Bandits is prepared to go for a laugh, as the pair's growing notoriety as the Sleepover Bandits make the disguises unnecessary.

This unrestrained approach is given full vent with the introduction of Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett), who is whirling maniacally around her lush kitchen wielding a knife in one hand and a surrogate mic in the other as she belts out a painful accompaniment to Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding Out For A Hero'. Her bored but privileged married life takes an unexpected and welcome twist when she literally runs into Terry. Unsure of what to do with her, he forces her at gunpoint to take him to Joe who is struck by her free if somewhat unstable spirit. Terry, who doesn't share Joe's experience with women, is less enamoured. Thinking rightly her presence will disrupt things, he warns Joe "she's like an iceberg waiting for the Titanic."

. The crisp and funny dialogue is delivered with gusto by the three stars, who delight in out hamming one another. Billy Bob is especially hilarious at times as the beleagured hypochondriac Terry, in particular when deprived of the use of his legs while convinced he's succumbing to a brain tumour. But recounted in flashback by Darren Head (Bobby Slayton), host of the TV program 'Criminals At Large', the story of the Sleepover Bandits gets bogged down with too many distractions and with the turbulent shifts in the ménage a trios. Had director Barry Levinson kept things on a tighter rein then Bandits might not have been robbed of its true potential.