I loved everything about this movie. It is uniquely funny, the plot surrounding the sleepover bandits is hilarious, & the character dynamic supports the film & gives it its own feel. My favorite part by far though is the polyamorous relationship that develops throughout the film. It's very rare to see a triad relationship at all in a movie, let alone one that has a happy ending & is portrayed in a realistic light. It isn't all drama, it isn't all sunshine & roses. It's like how a real polyamorous trio would potentially develop.(minus the bank robberies & faking your own death to go live in Mexico). I would recommend this film to all my poly friends, as well as to anyone else with a sense of humor.

Two convicts escape prison during a dastardly spontaneous break. Joe Blake (Bruce Willis), with charm and sex-appeal to spare, leads the duo into a series of bank robberies, however the brains behind the operation is Terry Lee Collins (Billy Bob Thronton), a hypochondriac with a subversive knack for stealing. After conceptualising the ploy to kidnap bank managers at their home the day before a heist, thus giving them access to the bank vault prior to its opening, the enter into a highly successful spree which gives them country-wide prominence. Blake cousin Harvey Pollard (Troy Garity) completes the team of robbers, functioning as the heist middleman and getaway driver. The situation however complicates itself when an dissatisfied housewife Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett), suicidally saddened by her husband's lack of interest, ends up a willing hostage of the three robbers, soon becoming a lover of both Joe and Terry...Hilarious, often through subtlety, not straight forward humour, "Bandits" turns several premises on its head, offering a well-conceived robbery ploy which simultaneously functions as a great instrument for comedic content. Although Willis is invariably himself the show is truly stolen by Billy Bob Thornton, whose quirky nervous character is revelatory offering apt space for him to present his comedic attributes. At times keeping the story simple and close to the audience, it nonetheless manages to bring about twists that are both ingenious and uncontrived. Features several absolutely charming scenes, including the most peculiar dance in memory.

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.

We often wax on and on about films -- usually justified in doing so, and can enjoy comparing our analyses with others, debating with those who loved a film we hated, or vice versa, etc., etc.But sometimes I just enjoy letting friends know about films I'd recommend to them which are funny or amusing or clever or just plain enjoyable.So in commenting on this picture, I would only say it's all of these.The story is fun, the performances outstanding, and the chemistry among the three leads is tremendous - both as a unit and in any of the three possible combinations of two of them together.All three provide outstanding performances, as well as the entire supporting cast. And if you regard this performance by Billy Bob Thornton, compared with his in "Bad Santa" and "Sling Blade" - and think for a moment of these three diverse characters - can there be any doubt that this man is as fine an actor as one is likely to encounter?