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People are voting emotionally.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A movie about bandits robbing banks? Well, in a way Bandits is that. It happens to be more about the couple of guys who are the bandits. That makes it more than a crime caper. This movie pulls you in but hardly due to criminal behavior as it quickly becomes a story of the relationship between two disparate prison escapees. In this way the movie rises to something different, and better.First there's two interesting main characters who play the escapee bandits. The creation of these characters through intelligent and witty writing brings makes their union especially good. What really brings the two to life is the portrayals of these two by Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton. They raise excellent writing to a high level indeed through their individual talent and pure chemistry. Part of the synergy between the two is certainly their often opposite approaches to life. Willis's smoothness is accentuated by Thornton's nervous brainy take on their situation. It's like mixing oil and vinegar and with some added spices a great union results making each better. The great enjoyment of this movie is seeing their diversity coming together in snappy dialog and brilliant answers in the form of their actions. The added spices are quite well realized with their mentally affected driver Harvey played gloriously off-center by Troy Garity and a great lost and lonely female love interest Kate played by the often scene stealing Kate Blanchett. With Willis and Thornton's roles being played out so well it's a high praise that Garity and Blanchett keep up so well. As a viewer the criminal thing is just a vehicle for some quite special characters to unfold around. You will relish their interplay much more than than the crimes they commit I won't spoil the actual story other than to say it's a very good palate in which all involved paint a modest masterpiece of characters you invest in and root for. The ever present thread of comedy is the string that ties it together for pure entertainment.Great colorful characters, a good story (sure there's plenty of holes and not a one that matters), witty and smart dialogue, and nice music seal this deal, director Barry Levisnon wrapped up one fantastic ride!

„Bandits" is a lighthearted comedy about … well , bandits. I can easily picture this movie as western. Anyway this isn't your typical American comedy . The humor here is offbeat and rather odd. It might mot be everyone's cup of tea. The whole movie has a sense of specific boredom in it – nothing really happens , yet the audience isn't bored. The funniest scenes are IMHO Willis and Blanchett talking about Bonnie Tyler's music and Thornton after the car crash.The trio of stars deserves some praise . Bruce Willis is good as the tough guy with good heart. Billy Bob Thornton is brilliant as the hypochondriac robber and so is Cate Blanchett as the frustrated housewife.The movie makes some mild attempts at being a satire at the media , but never really develops that idea. The story is simple and predictable , so is the ending . It doesn't mean that "Bandits" aren't a pleasant way to spend your evening . Just don't expect big laughs and you should have kinda odd sense of humor.I give it 5/10.

Although Bruce Willis (as "Joseph 'Joe' Blake") has the top billing in this movie, it is actually Billy Bob Thornton ("Terry Lee Collins") who carries this film with an outstanding and hilarious performance as a hypochondriac who seems to have contracted just about every disease known to mankind. Essentially, Joe decides to break out of prison at the spur of the moment and Terry mindlessly follows him out of the gates. Once outside they decide to rob banks which leads them to fame as "the Sleepover Bandits" due to their penchant of kidnapping bank presidents at night and sleeping at his house prior to robbing the bank the next morning. In one specific botched get-away Terry accidentally kidnaps a passing motorist named "Kate Wheeler" (Cate Blanchett) which further increases their fame. Rather than divulge the entire plot I'll just say that this film had some good moments and some bad moments. The beginning and the end were very good but it seemed to really slow down in the middle. Big time. And while both Bruce Willis and Troy Garity (as the get-away driver "Harvey 'Dog' Pollard") added decent performances, Cate Blanchett didn't seem to have the right chemistry for this movie. Be that as it may, the end result was a good comedy aided primarily by the excellent acting of Billy Bob Thornton. If the bar room scene doesn't make you laugh then nothing will.

I wish the media would simply refer to "hostages" instead of "hostage situations." How can you have hostages taken WITHOUT there being a "situation"? Don't we have enough redundancy in everyday life -- "thunderstorm activity" and "free gifts" -- without "hostage situations"? I tell you, it soured my whole outlook on the film even though I don't remember that the term itself was ever used.A good guess it that this looked like a fine comedy on paper to director Levinson, a former writer. And it does have a couple of funny lines and situations. Yet it somehow doesn't come together. The performers are all competent but the script requires them to do and say things that usually land with a slight thud.Three bandits, led by Willis and Thornton, rob banks the easy and non-violent way, just by staying overnight at the bank manager's house and accompanying him to the bank the next morning so he can open the safe and give them the money. A bored housewife, Cate Blanchett, is swept up into the crime spree and plays an active part in the robberies. Both Willis and Thornton sleep with her and find her irresistible.It's understandable. Blanchett, in addition to being a magnificent actress with a wide range (from "Elizabeth" to "The Gift") and able to shed her Aussie accent instantly, has a long enough nose to set off her piquant beauty. It's not a traditional ski-slope nose either. Yes, it's long and it seems to extend down half her face but it has an alluring lump or two. Nobody has a face so unconventionally stunning. Her figure is merely stunning in a conventional way, so far as it's possible to tell, which is not far enough. She's like a tall, more symmetrical Vera Farmiga.Her two compañeros couldn't be more different. Willis, with hair, plays his usual role of robust man of action, a little dumb. He explains to a TV interviewer how his friendship with Thornton is like that of Lewis and Clark. Why else would Lewis have tracked Clark through the African jungle until he finally found him? Thornton is the hypochondriacal and indecisive passive figure, intolerant to all kinds of foods, allergic to this and that, worried about brain tumors, and phobic for Benjamin Disraeli's curly hair and even Charles Laughton.That kind of nonsense -- confusing Lewis and Clark with Stanley and Livingston, and being phobic for Disraeli's hair -- really IS funny as hell and it's precisely what the movie needed more of.As it stands, there are longish longueurs during which we watch the bored and glamorous housewife seduce the two bandits, who later must come to blows over who owns her. After a delirious and frenzied climactic bank robbery, everybody has a serious and completely unconvincing falling out, although who owns Blanchett is still an issue waiting resolution. She certainly doesn't go back to her husband. During her status as hostage, he makes a plea on TV for her to come back home if she possibly can escape. He won't be there. He's taking a vacation in Spain. But the house needs her. The house WANTS her. It's very moving.The photography and location shooting, mostly on California's northern coast, is colorful and evocative. Nice job there.