Bandits (2001)

A Woman Any Man Could Fall For?

Bandits appears to be about the adventures of a couple of bank robbers, but that plotline is mostly dressing. At its core, the movie is a comedy about a love triangle involving the robbers and a woman who manages to tag along. Moviegoers can welcome a film based on character portrayals, but there is a problem here: who in his right mind would fall for the woman in this movie?

I found myself trying to analyze the appeal of Kate (Cate Blanchett), since all she needed on two occasions was one conversation with each man to make him fall head-over-heels for her. She looks quite ordinary, her only standout feature being the expressive face of Blanchett. She is, at turns, whiny, nosy, and self-pitying. She serves no real purpose other than to cause the only wedge that could come between the two bandits, who are otherwise good friends. The lack of attractive qualities in the female lead may have been a mistake on writer Harley Peyton's part -- the triangle is mostly seen from Kate's point of view because she is given a chance to make clear what she finds attractive about the two men. Unfortunately, the two men don't have a place in the script to express what they love about Kate. (None of this, by the way, is a knock on Blanchett herself, someone who is convincing me more and more that she is one of today's great actresses; if you didn't tell me she was the same woman in The Gift, I might never have known.)

In fact, for a character-driven movie, only one of the three characters is truly sympathetic. It isn't Kate, and it's not Joe (Bruce Willis) either, although he is likeable. Bruce Willis plays a guy who would rather act before thinking, and being a macho strongarm isn't anything new for him. It is Billy Bob Thornton who steals every scene he is in as Terry, the brainy half of the "Sleepover Bandits." He's a neurotic hypochondriac who prides himself as a competent chef and harbors unique phobias. The comedy he provides has a Woody Allen touch to it, but without a strong dose of highbrow attitude; Terry is a loser and has accepted it, and it makes us empathize with him. If all the characters were as well-written as Terry, Bandits would be a real winner. Unfortunately, the imbalance causes Terry to have more of the spotlight than he should have in a three-person show.

Thankfully, the humorous plotline surrounding the characters is inventive enough to carry the movie whenever it needs to be picked up. The "Sleepover Bandits" gain notoriety by robbing the bank of every new town they arrive in. They accomplish this by visiting the bank manager's home in the evening and forcing him, at gunpoint, to let them stay overnight. The next morning, they follow the manager, often with his family in tow, to the bank and have him open the vaults for them. All the while, the bandits are courteous and do their best to see that no one gets hurt. The idea of polite bank robbers may have had their most memorable treatment in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Bandits ensures its update is equally as engaging, successfully getting the audience to root for the robbers. Director Barry Levinson skillfully intersperses scenes about the bandits' progress with the scenes of the characters interacting with each other.

Unfortunately, I was still unable to answer the question of why anyone would fall for Kate. To appease myself, I had to accept these explanations: that this is a comedy utilizing exaggerations, particularly in the geniality of all the characters, and that two men falling for this woman is simply another exaggeration for the audience to accept; and, simply put, love is illogical, even in real life. Through history to the present day, we can not say why we fall for the people we do. So I suppose watching two men fall for Kate is conceivable after all.

Rating: 6/10

©Jeffrey Chen, Oct. 15, 2001

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