Rating- * * * * (4/5)
It’s not often that you get a comedy based on a true story but this quirky flick from Barry Levinson turns out to be one of the funniest and certainly the most intelligent comedy of the year. It stars Bruce Willis and Billy Bob Thornton as two amazingly lucky and mild-mannered bank inmates who break out of jail and become the most successful bank robbers in history. The characters are based on the real life “Sleepover Bandits” who robbed banks by kidnapping the bank manager the night before, sleeping over at his house, and then taking him to the bank early the next morning to quietly collect their payment. They are so nice to the bank employees that everyone waves goodbye to them as they leave the banks, from which they only take $100,000 at a time so that the banks don’t lose any after federal insurance kicks in. One of the best scenes in the film is when the bandits do their first sleepover and are having dinner with the family of the bank manager. The wife continues sobbing though the entire dinner as Thornton and Willis are complimenting her on her home decoration and trying to guess the ingredients in her cooking. The kids then try to impress the robbers by belching at the table prompting the mother to exclaim, “Don’t do that! We have guests!” The whole plan starts to go awry when the bandits encounter an emotionally distraught woman played by Cate Blanchett. Both men fall in love with her and she begins to pull them apart as they go into their last big heist. I won’t reveal what happens at this last heist but it is a fantastic surprise and will leave a big smile on your face as will the rest of the film. This is one of the best comedies I’ve seen in recent times and follows my prediction that comedy is moving out of outrageous, gross antics and into more mature and intelligent fair. For a few good laughs and lots of smiles, check this one out.