'Bandits' held up by unlively Willis

Cate Blanchett and Billy Bob Thornton, more acclaimed for their dramatic roles, produce the only worthwhile, laughable scenes in the underdeveloped, drawn-out "Bandits." Bruce Willis doesn't do much comically, dramatically or heroically -- other than look silly with his hair in a ponytail.\nThe "Sleepover Bandits," Joseph Blake (Willis) and Terry Lee Collins (Thornton) visit the homes of bank presidents the night before each robbery, eating dinner there, and then leading the family to the bank the next day to steal loot.\nEverything works fairly smoothly until the bandits take a rebellious housewife, Kate Wheeler (Blanchett), hostage after she hits Collins with her car. Sparks fly between Wheeler and Blake, and later between Wheeler and Collins, but you'd hardly notice because the romance isn't narrated beyond a tiny smooch.\nBut, Wheeler doesn't want to choose between the robbers, causing tension, fist fights and unwanted national tension as Blanchett is promoted as a missing person.\nThe first five minutes of the movie practically give away the ending, in which the bandits are caught by the police in an Alamo bank. The real ending -- some two hours later -- lacks the same suspense. \nIn fact, the entire film lacks violence, blood and murder. It's hard to fathom why the bandits are among America's top fugitives by the end of the movie. These are actually nice guys. For one thing, Blake reasons that the money is wrongfully insured by the government. Hypochondriac Collins feigns two strokes, politely cuts the spaghetti of a bank president's daughter during a sleepover robbery and has "sanitation issues."\nCollins, who worries he has cancer because one of his pupils is larger than the other, and Blanchett, who lip-syncs to women's power songs, are the movie's only weapons. See the movie if you're a fan of the two stars, but otherwise, stay away. After some of their scenes, and especially after the bandits take Wheeler hostage, the movie slows. \nThe plot especially drags during a bar scene when Blake and Collins try to convince Wheeler to run away to Mexico. She doesn't care, and apparently neither did the writers, who didn't elaborate the romance, which the bandits blame for ruining their business, and didn't add twists to the bland, forgettable plot.\nNone of the bandits' victims seem to care when the robbers ring the doorbell. One woman even welcomes them inside her home. So why should we care?