Tonight’s movie: Bandits

Director Barry Levinson recaptures his comedic touch in Bandits, a story of love, money, and brotherhood. Levinson blew me away with his debut film Diner, which he wroted and directed, following up with a string of majors: The Natural, Tin Men, Good Morning, Vietnam, and Rainman. Then he turned to mostly dramatic movies in the ’90s: Avalon, Bugsy, Disclosure, Sleepers, Sphere (why was Levinson directing an SF flick?) and Liberty Heights, and he was trying, I suppose, to be a serious filmmaker but he’s best at comedy. Even in the ’90s he slipped in Wag the Dog.

Bandits gives us Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton as escaped convicts who go on a bank robbery spree and pick up neglected but housewife Cate Blanchett, who falls in love with both of them, along the way. There’s a surprising ending. But the film was just hilarious. Willis is great at these adult comedies (as in The Whole Nine Yards), Thornton is swell as the smart hypochondriac, and Blanchett is funny and totally radiant, bringing nice depth to her character as the relationship between the three evolves. The first shot of her, as she screws in a blue light bulb, is gorgeous, amazingly well-suited to her coloring.

Bobby Slayton, one of the funnier standups around today, does a nice supporting turn as the host of a true crime TV show, which Levinson uses as a framing device for the movie.