AmateurMovieReviews.com

For me, part of the magic of the movies is that they can come to represent a very specific time and place in my own life. There are certain films that had such a tremendous effect on me that I am instantly transported to a different time when I see them. Thelma & Louise is one such movie that always takes me back to my senior year in high school.

Thelma & Louise stars Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as the title characters. Thelma is a housewife who's married to a verbally abusive man named Darryl (played by Christopher McDonald) while Louise is a waitress who's involved with a guy named Jimmy (Michael Madsen), a nice man that simply can't commit to their relationship. Both women are stuck in a rut and need to get away from things for a while. Louise suggests taking a fishing trip, which Thelma reluctantly agrees two. Thelma leaves an explanatory note for Darryl and the two head off.

Their first stop is a roadhouse not too far from home where they decide to have a few drinks and let off some steam. Thelma has one too many and starts getting very close to one of the other patrons. This man is very interested in her, and does everything he can to get her to go home with him. Although Thelma does begin to get intimate with him out in the parking lot, she has second thoughts and tells him to stop. But the guy won't listen to her, and it's pretty clear that he intends to rape her.

Just then, a gun-wielding Louise comes to her friend's rescue. The man relents and lets Thelma go, but makes a disrespectful comment to Louise before the two women leave. This hits a nerve in Louise and she ends up shooting the man. And in that instant, the course of the women's lives change forever. Instead of going on a leisurely fishing trip for the weekend, Thelma and Louise now find themselves running for their lives.

The rest of the film deals with the women's attempt to make it to safety in Mexico. They are being chased by the police, of course, and the head detective is a man named Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel). Slocumb is actually sympathetic to the women and thinks he can help them, but Louise isn't taking any chances and won't give Slocumb the opportunity to talk.

So the women press on, heading south despite the fact that they don't have enough money to get them there and despite the fact that they must detour around Texas because Louise refuses to travel through that state. The adventures they have along the way are memorable, and have a profound effect on their characters. Their lives change, and the two women actually get to live a little before the end of the film.

In my opinion, the defining quality of Thelma & Louise is the deep friendship that exists between the two women. Their love for each other and their loyalty to each other is evident in nearly every scene, and their commitment to each other all the way to the bitter end is what makes the movie so rewarding to viewers. Anyone who has ever had a best friend -- that one person who you could share everything with -- will readily identify with what these characters go through on their journey.

Sarandon and Davis were both phenomenal in their roles, and both were (deservedly) nominated for Oscars. Neither won that year (Jodie Foster took home the prize for her turn as Agent Starling in The Silence of the Lambs), but that doesn't diminish their accomplishment. Although Sarandon and Davis might have seemed like an unlikely combination prior to 1991, I can't think of two other actresses who would have brought as much chemistry, sympathy, and strength to the roles of Thelma and Louise.

It's not often that I recommend buying a DVD for your collection, but Thelma & Louise is a movie that everyone should own. The story holds up just as well today as it did 15 years ago when the film first came out, and the themes contained in the plot are still every bit as relevant as they were back then. Watch this movie again, and relive the strongest friendship you ever had.