Volume CXXXIII, Number 6 October 19, 2001 f

Mónica's Movie Musings: Bandits
MONICA GUZMAN
STAFF WRITER

It was Saturday night on Parent's Weekend, and my family and I decided to go to the movies. The popcorn was so buttery I used up all my napkins before the movie even started. My high-school bound brother wanted my family to go back home right after the movie to study for an upcoming chem test. Sigh….

Cate Blanchett throws a wrench into the plans of Billy Bob Thornton, left, and Bruce Willis in Bandits. (Courtesy of ew.com)

Two and a half hours later, we all walked out of Bandits smiling. I realized I had actually eaten the entire bag of drippy popcorn, my brother realized that stoichiometry could wait, and we all had dinner at Thorne. Thank you, Bandits. You made my family forget their responsibilities….

How'd it do it? Maybe because it was about a couple of really nice bad guys; which can be surprisingly refreshing.

Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) and Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thornton) are the two most successful bank robbers in America. Dubbed the "Sleepover Bandits," they rob banks after spending the night at their manager's house, in hopes of getting enough money to live in paradise in Mexico. Everything goes smoothly until Kate (Cate Blanchett) meets up with them and forces them to confront each other and themselves.

Joe and Terry are good guys, but then again they're bank robbers--it's this little paradox that makes the movie tick. Deep down, they can't hurt anyone. A cute little grandma bank manager knows this from the TV reports and refuses to give them money. Helpless in the face of truth, Terry turns to Joe and shrugs, "I'm stumped."

Which reminds me--some things have to be said about the director. Barry Levinson has had his confusing ups and downs. Rain Man and Wag the Dog--that was some good stuff. Toys and Sphere--hmmm… yeah, pretty darn bad. One cool thing does seem to keep showing up in his movies--character studies-and Bandits follows this tradition.

Billy Bob Thornton has bad teeth, sounds a bit like Harry Carey, and is growing weirder with age. But, as my brother and his best friend put it best, "The guy's a god." "Why," I responded, "cause he's a good actor?" "No…." An awkward pause. "He's married to Angelina Jolie."

Point taken.

But anyway, the guy can act. Although Billy clearly steals the show with his hilarious side antics; Bruce complements him well. We, as an audience of people who would never dream of robbing banks, admire his audacity and unpredictability. But Bruce has played similar characters before, so his performance is not quite so impressive.

Kate comes into the story by hitting Terry with her car instead of stopping for him to "borrow" it. Then she falls in love with both of them because together they are "the perfect man." She's their undoing and as Terry explains, "She's an iceberg waiting for the Titanic."

As for the genre, this movie doesn't really fall into any specific category. It's intellectually hilarious, carelessly criminal, and adorably touching--call it a romantic comedy crime film. That way, it conveniently passes both the guy movie and the chick flick test.

Oh, and keep your eyes open for the ending… it's a good one.

3 of 4 Polar bears.