It’s entirely possible that my less-than-sane state of mind when I saw Bandits is responsible for me being in the tiny minority of critics who actually liked it. From my review:

It's about watching Billy Bob and Bruce Willis fight over Cate Blanchett -- hey, who wouldn't? -- with all the clever panache of a 1930s screwball comedy. (Astute film lovers will pick up on the semi-oblique reference to the ultimate screwball romantic comedy, 1934's It Happened One Night.) It's also about the very un-P.C. but intensely romantic notion that a life of crime is not only fun but liberating, too. And it's pulled off with such deadpan joie de vivre that it's the perfect antidote for the insanely distracting reality we are living with at the moment. I went into Bandits feeling like a zombie, sure I needed to quit reviewing movies because what was the point of anything anymore, and by the time it was over, I realized that I had not only laughed but had not thought about reality for two hours, which seemed like a precious gift.

• review of Bandits, posted 10.14.01

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