Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Bandits (2001)
Director: Barry Levinson
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Despite a plot as old as the hills and a title that pitches for outlaw nostalgia, this is a reasonable hybrid, a character-led comic ramble along the highways and byways of genre - buddy pic, heist film, romance and road movie. Add light media satire and, with Levinson's emphasis on performance and dialogue, you have a higher-end studio project, albeit overlong and uneven, with a residue of indie spirit. It opens kinetically enough as Joe Blake (Willis), a hardman with a penchant for perusing Zen texts, breaks out of jail on a cement lorry with neurotic fellow con Terry Collins (Thornton). The two soon earn the moniker of 'the sleepover bandits' for their relaxed kidnappings of bank managers the night before a job. Along the road they pick up Kate Wheeler (Blanchett) and there ensues the inevitable falling in and out of love and trouble. This kind of picture would be dead in the saddle, if it weren't for enjoyable playing and some sprightly lines here.Author: GE
Cast & crew
Director: Barry Levinson
Producer: Michael Birnbaum, Michele Berk, Barry Levinson, Paula Weinstein, Ashok Amritraj, David Hoberman, Arnold Rifkin
Cast: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Troy Garity, Brian F O'Byrne, Stacey Travis, Bobby Slayton, January Jones full cast
Duration: 123 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now