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Bandits

Bandits

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: puts me to sleep
Review: It started out fresh and entertaining but toward the end it seemed too long and too much. I love Mr. Thornton and his acting chops but like what other reviewers had stated, his character's neurosis makes me want to slap him as the movie progressed. Ms Blanchette is as usual a very reliable actor but her character seems so unbelievable in real life. Who could feel for an emotionally unstable and needy woman, no matter how boring her marriage is? I mean to ditch her hubby and sleep with two guys simultaneously?! When the audience can't relate or root for the characters, it's hard to get into a movie.

You may say "but this is a comedy, not a drama based on real life story". True. However, when characters are so far away from reality and so one-dimensional, only the jokes remain interesting. And the jokes in this movie are so far apart and a few.

I think the problem with this movie is that the filmmaker can't decide what kind of movie this should be. Take, for example, Charlie's Angels, it's a total fantasy but it's the intention of the filmmaker to make it consistently a fantasy. Bandits wants to be many things at the same time that it lost its hold on the audience's attention.

A lesson to learn for all the filmmakers. Genre mixing is good only when done in careful scripting and in moderation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: many gems
Review: Billy Bob Thornton is hysterical. Nerdy too, which really lends to it. Cate Blanchett as the beautiful and tortured housewife is somewhat irritating, if not titilating. Well worth the view, it's an original story and the writing was funny. There is of course, the love plot, which makes it girlfriend friendly.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Held Up
Review: BANDITS is the type of film that polarizes the viewers: there's no middleground, and you either like it or hate it.

For the record, I hated it.

The 'Sleepover Bandits' employ a novel approach to perpetrating crime: be nice to those you're taking advantage of, and you'll be amply rewarded. Of course, their schemes work, and, on occasion, they're ripe with laughable moments. However, the end result reduces this 'caper' flick to little more than a gimmick-riddled film ... elevated only once (in their last 'job') beyond the level of the expected.

Blanchette, in particular, plays her character all over the map, indicating that a wealth of scenes on the cutting room floor better explain her obsession with 80's pop music and her inability to complete a sentence logically OR her character was never truly fully realized by the screenwriter. In either case, she ends up appearing more confusing than the career criminal who pulls off one of the 'greatest bank heists' in the history of capitalism.

At times, the filmmakers also employ the 'Pulp Fiction' technique of telling the story slightly out of chronology, as though the audience would benefit from more confusion. Sadly, it ends up being more laughable than useful.

Still, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett (3 incredibly gifted performers) all perform nice little miracles with what little depth the script provides, but there isn't enough magic among the three of them to elevate this predictable crime caper from the 'B rack' to the 'A rack.'

In the end, it's the audience whose really been held up ... for just over two hours.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very entertaining and funny movie
Review: My wife and I continually laughed as we watched this entertaining comedy about a couple of misfits who come up with a hare-brained scheme for robbing banks. But it works! What's funny is to watch how casually they approach the whole thing, having conversations about anything BUT robbery as they approach the next "victim's" house. The movie continually takes on new twists as their fame preceeds them, Terry keeps getting every symptom known to man (and some not!) and they suffer from the trials of having a faithful, if not too bright, getaway driver.

Yes, the romance does get in the way occasionally. Yes, we figured out the final twist before it was revealed (but only by a couple of minutes). Yes, there are a few slow spots. But if you're just looking for a couple of hours of entertainment with good laughs, this is definitely a movie to see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Excellent Movie!
Review: Wonderfully entertaining! ... I laughed so much my face was sore by the end of the film. Can't really imagine better casting for this story than Willis and Thornton - they played perfectly against each other. Thornton's phobias, hypochondria and nerdy 'overthink' were a brilliant contrast to Willis's bluecollar/tough guy (let's face it - the bluecollar/tough guy is what we enjoy about Willis' movies, we're cheering on the ordinary guy whether the part is played by Tom Hanks or Bruce Willis or Charlie Chaplin or whoever).
The action sequences were especially excellent!!!
I saw a rental version of the film, but will be buying it to add to my collection - my criteria for buying is whether it's a film I will enjoy seeing over and over.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: See what happens when you try to be too clever?
Review: Perhaps I had the wrong impression of this movie before I viewed it. I was hoping for more of a "shoot 'em up" flick, but instead, I ended up with a movie that explores the chemistry between two mismatched bank robbers, a bored housewife, and a wanna be stuntman.

This movie tries too hard to be clever. Although the acting is fine, the forced quirkiness gets to be annoying. Billy Bob Thornton's character is just too much. Initially, his babbling on about his various neuroses was mildly amusing, but eventually, it got old. The funniest part of the movie was Cate Blanchett singing Bonnie Tyler's "A Total Eclipse of the Heart" while driving wrecklessly in Portland, OR.

If it weren't for Ms. Blanchett's fine job of playing a "bored housewife," and the Pacific Northwest scenery, this movie would rate lower.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid comedy -- even funnier the 2nd or 3rd time
Review: I missed this in the theaters, but my wife, my daughter, and I caught it in a hotel room--and loved it, in spite of the scan-and-pan display and lousy sound. So I rented the DVD, and found the movie even more hilarious than the first time.

I suspect those who don't like "Bandits" were expecting something entirely different--maybe something more like "Dog Day Afternoon". ;-) This ain't it. It's a quirky character comedy that requires a keen mind and a keen wit. Definitely worth the time. ..bruce..

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WE'RE BANK ROBBERS
Review: My mom rented this one-and I decided to watch it-one of the
previews was Harts War another Bruce Willis movie-and it turns
out that the Harts War add was better then the movie itself!

Bandits is about these 2 losers who take an unhappy housewife
hostage and they end up falling in love with her.

I never did see what happened at the end because I was getting
bored and just stopped the movie and watched the add for Harts
War about 3 times!

Dont waste your money on this "comedy" since I didn't even laugh
once!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: more like blandits............
Review: I personally did not care for this movie. I couldn't tell if this movie was supposed to be a comedy or drama or action or what there is just no consistency to the plot. A movie with a little of everything is refreshing from time to time, but by the time this 2hour 5minute movie is over you might need to be revived! They are robbing banks and staying at the bank managers houses and stealing cars and just being bad people with attitude. That is the premise of the movie. I mean if you are a die hard (no pun intended) Bruce willis fan that has to have every movie he makes, buy it. Same if you are a Billy Bob fan. Otherwise don't waste your money.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I was not prepared for how bad this would be
Review: Bad hair, bad Bruce Willis smirk, bad dazed Billy Bob Thorton expression, bad use of Cate Blanchett (who before this seemed incapable of a bad movie), bad jerky cinematography, bad narrative pace. Seriously unwatchable. I really expected to like this movie at least a little, but man, what a waste of film.


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