Bandits (2001)
Directed by Barry Levinson
After escaping from prison, Joe and Terry go on a crime spree, robbing banks through Oregon and California in order to finance their scheme for a new life south of the border. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when they meet Kate, who runs into them with her car. She joins the bandits on their cross-country spree, and eventually she steals something, too: their hearts.
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What critics compared Bandits to
And for those unsure about the film's concept and anarchic spirit, "Bandits" is equal parts "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" with a little bit of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" thrown in for good measure.
All bank robber movies have to deal with the fact that there is a film out there called Bonnie and Clyde, and when a movie reminds you over and over about the infamous duo, it doesn�t help matters.
The film, which seems to combine Jules and Jim with Bonnie and Clyde, gets off to a rough start.
So far, so like Jules and Jim meets Bonnie and Clyde.
But Levinson ("Diner," "Rain Man"), somehow topping the lameness of his 1998 bomb, "Sphere," wastes them all with lazy, uninspired direction and an unimaginative screenplay by Harley Peyton, which rips off elements of "Bonnie and Clyde," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "Dog Day Afternoon."
Director Barry Levinson, known for his notable Baltimore-based movies such as "Diner" and "Avalon", looses the whimsy and finds the flimsy in the dreadful comedy crime caper "Bandits", a disjointed and woefully pared-down buddy-buddy road flick that amuses itself in self-deprecating fashion.
Director Barry Levinson (Diner) gives the film a loose, improvisional feel, which works when Thornton rattles off a bunch of loopy phobias his character suffers from, but grates whenever Blanchett goes into shrieky sidekick mode.
Barry Levinson (Diner, Tin Men) is a skilled comedy director, but his effort here feels a bit different from his previous work, with faster pacing and an edgier style.
Levinson used to be a decent director ("Diner," "Tin Men," "Rain Man," "Bugsy"), but recently he's been all over the map, quality-wise, with as many uncomfortable shifts in genre in the last ten years ("Jimmy Hollywood," "Sleepers," "Sphere," "An Everlasting Piece") as Leelee Sobieksi has had openings in the last ten days.
From "Diner" to "Wag the Dog," his pictures are packed with enjoyably idiosyncratic characters, every one of them a frolicsome horse of a different color that from their opening scenes feel like friends (even the amoral ones).
Three-way romantic relationships, particularly positive ones, are a rare beast in the world of cinema (or anywhere else for that matter), and Savages joins the less-than-illustrious company of Tintorera: Killer Shark and Barry Levinson’s Bandits in its attempt to break a conventional Hollywood mold in a genre movie.