Maria Alvarez (Penelope Cruz) is a local girl who lives with her father on land that is wanted by the government. Sarah Sandoval (Salma Hayek) is visiting her father from aristocratic Spain when her father is murdered by the local sheriff (played by Dwight Yoakam). Enter forensic crime analyst, Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn) who arrives to analyze the crime scene -- and to lay the foundation for his practice and seek acceptance among the scientific community.
It was interesting watching the film with Hayek and Cruz play opposite each other. While I've always liked Hayek, Cruz is definitely the better actress and it's refreshing to see her in a non-dramatic role that requires her to do a certain amount of slapstick.
Fans of foreign film and television comedy would probably get the ridiculous camp and cheese the film serves up. After all, it isn't supposed to be anything cerebral. Schlocky dialogue, a gratuitous nude scene (it's not who you think either), and the occasional tender moment (albeit, it's a hiccup in the film's pacing) are what you can expect. But the prize for its DVD release is the audio commentary.
Both Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek sit down and takes us through a nostaglic look back at filming Bandidas and reminisce about their start in Hollywood. At a certain point in the commentary Cruz comments that she looks like a duck in a scene. Hayek's response: "You always look like a duck."
That alone is worth the rental.
