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Thelma & Louise

Thelma & Louise (1991)

tomatometer

90

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 52
Fresh: 47 | Rotten: 5

Simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and peppered with action, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is a potent, well-acted road movie that transcends the feminist message at its core.

100

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 0

Simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and peppered with action, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is a potent, well-acted road movie that transcends the feminist message at its core.

audience

75

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 148,237

My Rating

Movie Info

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon play Thelma and Louise, two working-class friends who together have planned a weekend getaway from the men in their lives. Thelma's husband, Darryl (Chris McDonald), is an overbearing oaf, and Louise's boyfriend, Jimmy (Michael Madsen), simply will not commit. Though the road trip starts out as a good time, the pair eventually wind up at a bar. A tipsy Thelma ends up in the parking lot of the bar with a would-be rapist. Louise shoots the man dead. The two decide

R, 2 hr. 10 min.

Comedy

Callie Khouri

Feb 4, 2003

MGM

Cast

Critic Reviews for Thelma & Louise

All Critics (52) | Top Critics (10) | Fresh (55) | Rotten (5) | DVD (31)

Scott has balanced action, comedy and doomy subtext to create a morally firm yet very entertaining fable that reaches out to an audience far larger than its natural feminist constituency.

August 16, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Sarandon and Davis bring a lot of unpredictable verve and nuance to their parts.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Even those who don't rally to pic's fed-up feminist outcry will take to its comedy, momentum and dazzling visuals.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

What sets Thelma & Louise aside from the great central tradition of the road picture is that the heroes are women this time.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (2)
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Their adventures, while tinged with the fatalism that attends any crime spree, have the thrilling, life-affirming energy for which the best road movies are remembered.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This wincingly funny, pertinent and heartbreaking road movie means to get under your skin, and it does.

May 12, 2001 Comment
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A film about the type of women's liberation that I despise.

August 18, 2012 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

Thelma & Louise encounter representatives of different types of maleness from barroom skirt chaser and leering truck driver to the swaggering young hustler (a star-is-born Brad Pitt) who delivers Thelma's sexual awakening and steals the pair's cash.

February 13, 2012 Full Review Source: Movie Talk | Comment
Jason Best
Movie Talk

An exciting slice of action cinema, a poignant drama, a snarky southern-fried comedy and a knockout road picture.

March 23, 2011 Full Review Source: IGN DVD | Comment
R. L. Shaffer
IGN DVD

Iconic film from the 1990s.

March 16, 2011 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Populist genre filmmaking and a legitimately unique rethinking of genre structure are both present in Thelma & Louise, which makes its wrong-headed reputation as a radical work all the more frustrating.

February 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Chris Cabin
Slant Magazine

Say what you will about Thelma & Louise (many have), but there's no doubt that it was a zeitgeist picture with a potent cultural impact. [Blu-ray]

February 21, 2011 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | Comment
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

The plot (often contrived) and the ending (contrversial for some but not for me) are secondary--what matter the most are the vibrant characters and the stellar performances of the gorgeously looking Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.

January 15, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Feminist road movie is only for the very mature.

January 1, 2011 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
David Gurney
Common Sense Media

one of the best buddies-on-the-run movies ever made.

April 8, 2009 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | Comment
Jason McKiernan
Filmcritic.com

Still compelling and inspiring after all these years.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine

The climax is truly shattering -- but a fitting end to a film that trades in intelligence as much as it does in style.

May 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment (1)
Film4

The accidental felons make the kind of stand most gals can only dream out, shooting and fast-talking their way out of jams like a distaff version of Butch and Sundance.

September 1, 2006 Comment
Betsy Bozdech
Reel.com

Ultimately, this road movie calls on too many knee-jerk reactions: its shocking and funny scenes rely squarely on role reversals within a traditionally male genre.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comments (3)
Time Out Source: Time Out

Scott seems most at home when shooting the exterior scenes on the desert highways, using the area as both inviting and deadly. It's still a great film.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Thelma & Louise

View All

The classic female buddy movie. A movie that shot its stars to fame in a hurry.

May 9, 2008
jmanard52
John Manard

Super Reviewer

Most certainly not an under done chick flick. It's premise suggests ultra feminism and typically mean hearted humour but Thelma and Louise is actually intelligent, entertaining, gripping and ambitious to challenge one's emotions.

December 8, 2011
Directors Cat
Directors Cat

Super Reviewer

Thelma & Louise Quotes

View All

    1. Thelma Dickinson: I don' t ever remember feeling this awake.
    – Submitted by Alyssa B (11 months ago)
    1. Louise Sawyer: I'm in deep shit; Deep Shit, Arkansas.
    – Submitted by Alyssa B (11 months ago)

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