Cinema de Gym: 'Bandits'
Friday, May 27, 2011 at 5:00PM 
Kurt here from Your Movie Buddy. In my attempt to tone up and shed a few (as I feared, the life of a writer can be waistline-hazardous), I've found new inspiration. The gym I attend has a theater in the back where, instead of watching The View with headphones, you can do your cardio in the dark with a daily film that plays on a loop. It's surely not the place to go if you're looking to catch up on your Bergman or Powell & Pressburger, but, by god, at least it's something. Even with a trainer who kicks my ass and drafts a new routine each month, I'll take all the incentives I can get.
On that note, I've opted to use this extra motivator as a writing opportunity – a chance to chime in on the gym's staff picks and voice the opinions that brew while I'm huffing it on the elliptical. Fitness and film writing – it's my kind of win-win.
For the inaugural "Cinema de Gym" post, we have Barry Levinson's Bandits, a 2001 love-triangle crime comedy I'd never seen. In this setting, catching things for the first time is fun in that I'm forced to draw as much as I can from a 20-30 minute snippet (okay, sometimes it's 15). Besides, I dare say a lot of these flicks are not of the must-see-it-from-end-to-end sort. With Bandits, I entered during a barroom scene where a red-headed Cate Blanchett is consoling the bar's only other patron, a characteristically un-dashing Billy Bob Thornton, who's suffering from some fatiguing ailment. Rather than whiskey, Cate wants to get some warm milk for this milquetoast, who, it turns out, is lactose intolerant.
Bandits: Bruce, Billy Bob and Blanchett
Enter Bruce Willis, all smirks and hubris, who breaks up the excessive appropriateness of Grover Washington Jr.'s "Just the Two of Us" playing on the soundtrack (err, in the bar). From the interactions (and, hell, from the casting), it's clear Bruce is the leader of the Bruce-Billy Bob criminal duo, and that Cate is the third wheel whose affections they're fighting over. Cate and Billy Bob hit the dance floor, a brotherly brawl ensues, and Bruce and Billy Bob crash through a glass window onto the ground outside. "I can't do this anymore," a desperate Cate says, peering down at them. "Together, you're the perfect man."
Well, to each her own, Ms. Blanchett.
Garity squares off with JonesCut to: January Jones? The soon-to-be X-villain plays some type of accomplice to our lead quarrelers, along with Troy Garity, Soldier's Girl star and son of Jane Fonda. The crew is gearing up for their One Last Job, which, naturally, still attracts Cate for some reluctant involvement.
Where the film goes from here is, well, to its end, and I'll spare you the spoilers even though I don't recommend. Let's just say there's a haphazard bank heist, but Dog Day Afternoon this is not.
Conclusions?
1. Seeing early Blanchett is fun.
2. Billy Bob really needs to get back to work.
3. Bruce Willis has never tired of playing Bruce Willis (shocker).
4. Barry Levinson is a hugely recognizable name, but hardly one that guarantees quality.
5. You've seen Bandits before, even if, you know, you haven't seen it before.
Have you seen it before?
Reader Comments (10)
I am so jealous that my gym doesn't have this. It's Judge Judy every time I go. And then when i'm at home my yoga instructor is telling me to concentrate on the space between my eyes and that's not very movie like.
I remember not liking Bandits much at the time but i'd COMPLETELY forgotten about it -- particularly the supporting cast.
FUN POST.
one of my favorite cate blanchett performances, she's so fun in that movie.
and i didin't know january jones was the cowboy boots girl...in fact, the only thing i remember is cate blanchett and bonnie tyler.
I, too, love Cate in this she's on my supporting shortlist of that year (but is she supporting or leading? I can never decide.) The thing is, it's not half as innovative as it wants to be, but I find it very entertaining.
I didn't understand why Bruce would be into Cate's eccentric character...but it's one of the few films I've seen Cate have genuine chemistry with her leading man...that being Billy Bob. Watched this last year just to see Cate do some comedy...would love to see her do more of that.
I love yoga. I had all the prejudices against it, and all these new age things, but it works a lot, phisically, mental, and, why not, spiritually. I feel so much better since since I started to practice yoga. I was not depressed, or something like that, but now I feel... light.
Oh, this movie. Blanchett is ok in it.
I remember reading in GQ, Jones said she was hired for this because Bruce Willis liked her name and thought she'd become a big star. It took about 10 years, but it happened.
Bia -- fun memory!
How can anybody not have seen it, its on TV like once a month. I used to like it a lot, but I saw it again recently, and I found it a little too long and convoluted. But Blanchett is a lot of fun, and worth watching the movie for.
The Gift is another Blanchett movie thats gets played all the time. I watch it everytime its on too lol, for no particular reason.
This movie was filmed in my home state, Oregon, when I was 12 or 13 and I remember the media made kind of a big deal that Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett were in town. One of the morning radio shows interviewed the woman who had loaned her riverfront house to the filmmakers to be used as Blanchett's character's house -- stuff like that. The Oregon connection is also why Thornton's character yells "Beavers and Ducks!" when he wakes up from a nightmare.
I love this movie. I love the way the triangle is resolved. I love the three leads. I love the abandon with which the roles are played.