2022 Blind Spot Series: Thelma & Louise
Two best friends, Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Surandon) go off on an adventure only to find themselves running from the law after comitting a crime along the way.
I feel like Thelma & Louise is so well known within the culture pantheon that I felt like I had already seen it before even pressing play. The infamous ending is always talked about. To this day, this film still comes up when discussing female leads. But I needed to see it all play out.
I'm glad I finally saw it the whole way through. I think my expectations might have been a bit high, but it's pretty tremendous for a movie like this to be released in 1991. I think it struggles with pacing here and there and some of the decisions these women make are very frustrating, but over all I enjoyed it.
Davis and Surandon are of course marvelous. Davis being my favorite. It's also fun to see Baby Brad Pitt at one point.
Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I say I'm glad I finally watched this, but now it's nice to know that I have the whole picture and not just what is fed to me through various pop culture channels. That's me patting myself on the back.
Grade: B+
I'm not really much of a fan of this film as I just think it is overrated though I think Harvey Keitel's performance as the detective is great as he's one of the few characters who is at least a rational and sympathetic person.
ReplyDeleteHe was the only man in this film willing to listen and not have a shitty motive behind it. He was good.
DeletePeople like to say that women-led movies don't do as well in Hollywood. Women watch movies about men and/or women, but men only watch movies about men. The thing that makes Thelma & Louise really work is how few changes you would need to make to have this be about two men over their heads.
ReplyDeleteSad as it is to say, there are a lot of men in the world who will only watch something like this if it's essentially a man's film. This is smart enough to not go completely in that direction, but to do so just enough.
I think it's a little unfocused in places, but it's still pretty dynamite.
That's absolutely true, and I don't get it. That's what annoyed me about Widows in particular. That film should've done so much better than it did.
DeleteI saw this in the theatre and I loved their friendship, I like Sarandon’s character and that women should have some power but...but, I couldn’t stand Davis’s stupidity. I’ve been in her position, well, I was the friend and telling my friend to stop doing what she was doing as she was “asking for it”. That’s archaic as no woman asks for that! But I hope you know what I mean that men can be pigs and believe they deserve that piece of ass when all they deserve is a quick kick in the nuts. Where was I?. Oh yes, Geena was not naive as just, well, stupid. I also hated, I mean hated the ending! I thought it is one of the dumbest endings. I get the meaning behind it , blah, blah, blah but I think more could have been done if they did not die. I wanted to learn more about Keitel’s character and more about Sarandon’s.
ReplyDelete"Asking for it" will forever make me cringe. I hate when people say that. No one is entitled to anyone else's body. BUT I DIGRESS - yes, Geena's character was really dumb at times, I think that's what made her so endearing to me. Her naivete. But I agree Sarandon's was underwritten slightly.
DeleteWell I'm back to commenting, albeit sporadically-it has not been nor is it the best of times in these parts-but at least my vision has mostly cleared from my operations so when I can grab a moment I'll be around.
ReplyDeleteWith that said this isn't a film I hold dear. When I saw it I thought it was fine but nothing extraordinary. The performances quite good, even if Geena Davis was woefully naïve at times. What I remember most from it was that it was the beginning of Brad Pitt's ascension. He enters the movie and it's just BAM! He steals every second he's on screen as he radiates rascally star quality. It took him a couple of years to really hit the top but you could see he was going places as soon as he appears.
I'm glad you're feeling better! I was hoping your surgery went well. i'd be terrified of eye surgery. Oh yes, it's funny to think of Brad's career in terms of him just randomly showing up here. Though now I want to go watch Se7en again.
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