No, I’m not talking about the ending to this Bruce Willis–Billy Bob Thornton vehicle, I’m talking about the bandits’ moral justification for their actions.

Depositors’ money is federally insured up to $100,000, they argue. So, it’s only the government which took those hard-working folks’ money in the first place that will feel the pinch. And anyone who’s banking more than $100,000? Well, they obviously didn’t “work” for it in the first place, the bandits say. I wonder what Willis or Thornton would think if their future salaries were limited to $100,000 per film. But they’re just actors; they don’t deserve the blame — except for being in a mediocre movie.

It’s screenwriter Harley Peyton who deserves the lashing. OK, it’s true that the people who bank less than $100,000 get their money back from the federal government through the FDIC. But where does Peyton think the money to pay them back comes from — the banking fairy? Obviously, taxpayers make up the difference. And that is a net loss to society, because since money is fungible and the FDIC is just replacing the funds the bank robbers stole, the money is essentially going to the bank robbers themselves.

Sure, the costs of recouping the depositors is spread over all of society, so no one in particular feels the pinch. But it all adds up to the same amount of money in the end. It just feels a little better since it is the anonymous taxpaying public — rather than specific depositors at a particular bank — that is left holding the bag.

I’m usually not bothered by pictures which glorify criminals or take a morally neutral approach to their behavior. It allows us to see inside the criminal’s worldview — or at least the criminal’s worldview as imagined by Hollywood screenwriters — and, frankly, it’s more entertaining. But don’t take us for fools with some ridiculous nonsense about nobody really being hurt by bank robbers. Perhaps the fictional bandits in the movie believe that, but there’s no reason to let those lines in the screenplay go unchallenged and treat the audience like idiots.

I’ve heard this line repeated in several bank-robber movies now. I wonder if Hollywood screenwriters actually believe it, or know that their criminal characters are likely to rationalize their behavior that way. Talk about your moral hazards.