Cate Blanchett in Bandits (2001)

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Bandits is the new film about the "Sleepover Bandits", a laid back modernization of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, although Billy Bob Thornton is somewhat less charismatic than Robert Redford. Actually, that's unfair to Redford, since Billy Bob is only slightly more charismatic than General Noriega.
Although Noriega was a little better looking.

By the way, if you are assembling a list of the most irritating performances ever, and you were really impressed with Tom Green in Freddy Got Fingered, you'll also enjoy Billy Bob here.

Graham Greene once wrote of the "baseless optimism that is so much more appalling than despair". If there's anything more appalling than baseless optimism, it's people trying to be funny and failing. That's the story with this movie. Picture, if you will, Hugh Grant, a man who walks around in a constant state of self-bemusement. He is, in fact, so convinced of his own cleverness, that he can actually convince other people he is being clever. The problem is that they gather around later and ask - "what did he say again?" It turns out that the wit is all style, no substance. Hugh figures if he acts like Oscar Wilde, people will think he is. And it works.

This movie follows the same path. It is people saying things that they think are funny (or the screenwriter thinks so). We know that only because, like Hugh Grant, they are using a kind of delivery that says "I am being funny. Nudge, nudge" rather than "my mom just died". But almost nothing works, and the few things that did work are in the previews, so if you've seen the trailer, you can skip the film.

And, Jiminy, how long is this thing? It must be in real time.

Oh, I guess there are a few funny things. The one thing I thought was sort of funny was the list of various items feared by Billy Bob Thornton's paranoid, neurotic, hypochondriac character. He's afraid of antique furniture, for one thing. I thought this was a creative piece of absurdist humor until I read that they thought of this because the real Billy Bob Thornton is afraid of antique furniture.

The best false phobia I have ever heard of is my dad's facetious contention that he is afraid of widths. The whole concept cracked me up when I was a kid, and it still seems engagingly silly. Personally, I have never been able to understand fear at all, because I am afraid of only two things: boysenberries and string quintets, and I don't see much of either. Interestingly, I can face a string quartet with courage, and have no theoretical fear of a string sextet.
This movie follows the same path. It is people saying things that they think are funny (or the screenwriter thinks so). We know that only because, like Hugh Grant, they are using a kind of delivery that says "I am being funny. Nudge, nudge" rather than "my mom just died". But almost nothing works, and the few things that did work are in the previews, so if you've seen the trailer, you can skip the film.

And, Jiminy, how long is this thing? It must be in real time.

Oh, I guess there are a few funny things. The one thing I thought was sort of funny was the list of various items feared by Billy Bob Thornton's paranoid, neurotic, hypochondriac character. He's afraid of antique furniture, for one thing. I thought this was a creative piece of absurdist humor until I read that they thought of this because the real Billy Bob Thornton is afraid of antique furniture.

The best false phobia I have ever heard of is my dad's facetious contention that he is afraid of widths. The whole concept cracked me up when I was a kid, and it still seems engagingly silly. Personally, I have never been able to understand fear at all, because I am afraid of only two things: boysenberries and string quintets, and I don't see much of either. Interestingly, I can face a string quartet with courage, and have no theoretical fear of a string sextet.

Nudity Report: None. There is a glimpse of a small part of Cate Blanchett's butt as she rolls over in bed with Willis.

Critics Vote: General consensus: two and a half stars. Ebert 2/4. Berardinelli 2.5/4.

IMDB Summary: IMDb voters score it a very solid 7.2.

Box Office: Made for a bloated $80 million. It has grossed $25 million in its first two weeks - on a blockbuster-level 3200 screens.


Written by: Scoopy …courtesy of Scoopy.net