Crime Capers

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

Joe Blake (Bruce Willis) is the hard guy. He proves this in Bandits' first minutes by stealing a concrete-mixing truck and using it to crash out of the Oregon state pen. Terry Collins (Billy Bob Thornton) thinks he's a smart guy but is actually a hilarious hypochondriac. Kate Wheeler (Cate Blanchett) is a homemaker driven mad by her husband's solipsistic indifference. Very quickly they constitute themselves as "the Sleepover Bandits." Their m.o. is to invade the home of a small-town bank manager at night, take the family hostage and, bickering all the way, waltz into the vault before the bank opens in the morning.

The trio also becomes a pleasantly low-key menage a trois, because, as Kate puts it, the two guys add up to one pretty sexy--maybe amusing is a better word--dude. Written by Harley Peyton, Bandits establishes itself early on as an ambling, slightly shaggy but very agreeable movie, making time for digressive observations and blissful wrangles with a rich supporting cast of American weirdos.

Were it not for Thornton's brilliantly whiny portrayal of a man who knows too much medicine for his own good, Troy Garity (Jane Fonda's kid) might have stolen the picture. He plays the bandits' wheelman, a none-too-bright chap who dreams of becoming a stunt man and occasionally practices the craft by setting fire to himself. He's terrific, but finally Bandits works as a sweetly loony ensemble piece, a sort of cracked romance that's typical of director Barry Levinson at his shrewd but unpretentious best.

--By Richard Schickel