BANDITS

A talking head on a Most Wanted TV show describes a trio of bank robbers as “Bonnie and Clyde meets Barnum and Bailey.” Too bad the notorious threesome (Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett) — who’ve gotten the moniker “The Sleepover Bandits” because their MO includes spending the night at a bank manager’s house and robbing his establishment in the morning — aren’t as dynamic as their billing. But their interpersonal play makes for an amusing three-ring circus. Blanchett’s bored housewife catches on with the two prison escapees after she runs over Thornton with her Mercedes sports coupe. Willis spearheads the group as the strong, silent front man, and along the road both men have an intimate moment with Blanchett. Director Barry Levinson (Rain Man and Diner) has his finger on something powerful here: the love triangle sizzles, the crime drama is mere background. And his build-up is languid yet purposeful — that is, until the film trips into a bombastic and cliché-riddled copout.

— Tom Meek