''Band of Robbers'' is a 2015 American crime comedy film written and directed by brothers Aaron and Adam Nee, based on

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

's ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (also simply known as ''Tom Sawyer'') is a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876, about a boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1830s-1840s in the town of St. Petersbu ...

'' and ''

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, th ...

''. It stars Kyle Gallner as Huck Finn and Adam Nee as

Tom Sawyer Thomas "Tom" Sawyer () is the title character of the Mark Twain novel '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawy ...

Matthew Gray Gubler Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal Minds'', for which he also directed several episodes. Gubler has appeared in ...

Melissa Benoist Melissa Marie Benoist ( ; born October 4, 1988) is an American actress and singer. Her first major role was Marley Rose on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox musical comedy drama ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2012–2014), in which she was a serie ...

, Daniel Edward Mora, Eric Christian Olsen,

Hannibal Buress Hannibal Amir Buress ( ; born February 4, 1983) is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He started performing comedy in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University. He starred on Adult Swim's '' The Eric Andre Show'' from 20 ...

, and

Stephen Lang Stephen Lang (born July 11, 1952) is an American stage and screen actor. He gained fame for his role as main antagonist Miles Quaritch, Colonel Miles Quaritch in James Cameron's ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'' (2009), for which he won the Saturn ...

also star. In this modern-day retelling, the two iconic rascals are grown up and small-time crooks still searching for the fabled Murrell's treasure that has eluded them since childhood. The story draws heavily from Twain's classic novels, including characters, plot twists and even dialogue. ''Band of Robbers'' premiered at the 2015

LA Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodi ...

, and received a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States on January 15, 2016, by

Gravitas Ventures Gravitas Ventures is an American film distribution company owned by Shout! Studios. The company was founded by Nolan Gallagher in Los Angeles in 2006, and moved its headquarters from Los Angeles to Cleveland in 2019. It focuses on the distribu ...

Plot

When Huck Finn is released from jail he is greeted by his lifelong friend,

, now an underachieving cop who just can't let go of their childhood dreams of wealth and glory. Tom convinces the reluctant Huck and their bumbling friends Joe Harper and Ben Rogers to rob a pawnshop where their friend and contact, the alcoholic vagrant Muff Potter, believes Injun Joe, a savage and murderous white career criminal who admires and appropriates

Native American culture Native American cultures across the 574 current federally recognized tribes in the United States, can vary considerably by language, beliefs, customs, practices, laws, art forms, traditional clothing, and other facets of culture. Yet along wi ...

, has hidden Murrell's treasure. Tom explains that robbing bad guys makes them the good guys. Things get complicated when Tom's commander assigns him to train Becky Thatcher, an eager-to-please rookie partner, and the hung-over band of robbers' heist goes awry. But that doesn't stop Tom; instead, he leads the band on a wild treasure hunt from one mysterious clue to another. When Huck's friend, Mexican day laborer Jorge Jimenez, is mistaken as part of the band's activities and arrested, Huck and Tom, on the run from a vengeful Injun Joe and the police, lead the band on a mission to rescue him and be "heroes".

Cast

* Kyle Gallner as Huck Finn ** Gabriel Bateman as Young Huck * Adam Nee as Tom Sawyer ** Willem Miller as Young Tom *

as Joe Harper *

as Ben Rogers *

as Officer Becky Thatcher * Daniel Edward Mora as Jorge Jimenez aka Jim *

as Injun Joe * Eric Christian Olsen as Det. Sid Sawyer *

Johnny Pemberton John DeJarnette Pemberton III (born June 1, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as the titular ''Son of Zorn'' in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox sitcom, Thaddeus in the Amazon Prime Video, Prime Video drama ...

as Tommy Barnes *

Beth Grant Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actor, character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy ''The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her ...

as Widow Douglas *

Cooper Huckabee Thomas Cooper Huckabee (born May 8, 1951) is an American film and television actor who appeared in '' The Funhouse'', ''Urban Cowboy'', and as Harrison in the 1993 film '' Gettysburg'', among other roles. Career Huckabee played Buzz, one of th ...

as Muff Potter *

Lee Garlington Ann Leslie "Lee" Garlington (born July 20, 1953) is an American actress. Early life Garlington was born in Teaneck, New Jersey on July 20, 1953. She spent her teenage years in Wilmington, Delaware. Career She has guest-starred in a number of not ...

as Lt. Polly *

Creed Bratton Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider; February 8, 1943) is an American actor and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a Creed Bratton (character), fictionalized version of himself o ...

as Dobbins * Josh Harp as Packard * Jack Wallace as Doc Robinson * Maria Blasucci as Amy Lawrence * Brian Sacca as Det. Temple * Jeff Newburg as Pap Finn

Release

The world premiere of ''Band of Robbers'' was held at the 2015

on June 13, 2015. The film was picked up for distribution by

, and had a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on January 15, 2016 in theaters in 11 cities.

Reception

''Band of Robbers'' received generally positive reviews from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', and '' The Cleveland Plain Dealer''. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 6.51/10. It has drawn comparisons to the films of

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. Wes Anderson filmography, His films are known for themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Due to his films' eccentricity, distinctive visual and narrative ...

, particularly ''

Bottle Rocket A skyrocket, also known as a rocket, is a type of firework that uses a solid-fuel rocket to rise quickly into the sky; a bottle rocket is a small skyrocket. At the apex of its ascent, it is usual for a variety of effects (stars, bangs, crackl ...

'', and the

Coen brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

. It won the Director's Choice Award at the Naples International Film Festival.

References

External links

* * {{The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 2015 films 2015 independent films 2015 crime comedy films 2010s English-language films 2010s heist films 2010s police comedy films American crime comedy films American heist films American independent films Films based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Films based on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Films based on multiple works of a series Films directed by Aaron and Adam Nee Films scored by Joel P. West Films with screenplays by Aaron and Adam Nee 2010s American films English-language crime comedy films English-language independent films