Overlong, and increasingly irritating (and supposedly comic) buddy-caper movie starring Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton in what director Barry Levinson clearly intends to be a contemporary BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, but which mistakes a bunch of contrived tics, quirks and traits for sharp characterisations as the two laid-back escaped cons, complete with requisite flaky female to complete the triangle (Cate Blanchett in a role which suggests her career could swiftly subside into a slew of shrewish neurotics - she's rich and underappreciated, so we're supposed to warm her) take down a series of federally insured banks ('I never steal from anyone that's earned it' says Bruce in a throwaway remark that makes you wonder whether he's ever heard of 'bank charges' and their effect on beleagured customers who indirectly wind up paying for his jovial criminality). Watching B & BB don dopey disguises once is good for a grin but, when you realise that this running gag is essentially the movie's comic highpoint and that we're meant to find the idea of them repeatedly kidnapping bank managers and sleeping over with their family the night before pulling the heists hilarious (don't worry, they don't rape their wives or douse their kids in petrol - Billy Bob's culinary tips to one man's wife is about as hostile as they get), you get a measure of the level of invention in a work which outstays its welcome well before the overstretched two hour running time is up. Opening with a bank hostage setup which is surprisingly similar to the superior SWORDFISH (yep, this rates so low that Travolta's lightweight high-tech caper movie shines in comparison), boasting a lame AOR soundtrack (complete with supposedly ironic deconstruction of Bonnie Tyler lyrics - give me Patrick Bateman's take on Phil Collins any day), and drawing attention to the fact that it's plot makes no sense even on its own tarnished terms (a bank hostage remarks that she knows they'll be safe as B & BB are known for preserving the lives of their victims, which begs the inevitable question 'Why don't the hostages merely overpower their armed captors?'), this is the type of film which evaporates in the mind before it's reached a lame 'twist' ending. You'd be far better off renting Redford and Newman's wittier and snappier buddy-caper Western which, at least, imbued its cast of characters with more than a smattering of irritating mannerisms to pass for personality, had entertainment value to burn and played fair with the fade-out.
