Bandits

Director Barry Levinson’s (Liberty Heights, Wag the Dog) goofy, toothless crime comedy begins as smooth-talking Joe (Bruce Willis) and hypochondriac Terry (Billy Bob Thornton) escape from prison together. They begin robbing banks to finance their dream of buying into a Mexican resort run by a friend. The media dubs them the Sleepover Bandits for their modus operandi of holding bank managers and their families hostage overnight in their homes and escorting them to the bank in the morning. The two bungling buddies endear themselves to the public and hostages alike with their polite demeanor and nonchalance as a troubled married woman (Cate Blanchett) crosses their paths and complicates their lives. Harley Peyton (Twin Peaks, Heaven’s Prisoners) wrote this character-driven tale.