Copyright
© 2001 by Michael
Segers,
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Check out Bandits
Bandits is
somehow better and worse than I expected.
Yes, it is funny--and that's more than I can say for a lot of comedies I
watch these days. Yes, its humor
depends more upon characterization, the development of conflicts, than upon
gross jokes involving body fluids and sounds. And yet, there is my inevitable, and yet...
Joe Blake
(Bruce Willis) leads hypochondriac Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thornton, who is all
over the cineplexes this year) in a rather poorly thought out, but nonetheless
successful prison break and bank job, before they morph into "the sleepover
bandits." The nickname refers to
their quirky mode of operation, spending the night in small town banks with the
manager, and then heading out early the next morning, with nary a bullet nor
drop of blood shed. Let's
hear it for a more or less non-violent crime comedy!
What's more, this is a comedy involving two people that are just nutty enough or peculiar enough that I want to stick with it. There's more going on here than meets the eye, and a lot of that, of course, is owed to the acting of Willis and Thornton: they take this comedic assignment seriously with a chemistry that I had not expected.
In fact, things seem
to be going too smoothly for anything to happen... until something or rather,
someone, does happen, with the
introduction of a housewife (Cate Blanchett), for whom getting taken hostage is
a welcome change of pace. This wry
little comedy is always as much bitter as it is sweet, and an unlikely but
predictable triangle develops.
There is a good bit of
predictability in the goings-on here, perhaps most predictable are the superb
performances by a superb trio of actors, although Blanchett's comic timing and
skills are a surprise, a very pleasant surprise. So, am I happy with Bandits? Yes, and that's my and yet... Watching a lot of films, reading about a
lot of films, thinking about a lot of films, I sometimes forget that there is a
place for a film like Bandits, one
that can steal a couple of hours of our time, without rewards but without insult
either. A year from now, we'll say
"Bandits? Was that the one with...?" I may even have to check to see if I
reviewed it. It will earn no
rewards, no great accolades--no great diatribes, either.
POPCORN
Is there any connection between the title of this film and my suggestion of a
site for your information rather than entertainment? Go to NASDAQ to get up-to-the-minute quotes on
stocks. As fast as the values are fading away, you may think there are
some bandits at work somewhere.