Thelma and Louise

This is a “buddy” movie about two ordinary women who innocently decide to break out of their everyday lives and somehow end up running from the law.

Louise (Susan Sarandon) is going on a weekend fishing vacation, and she persuades Thelma (Geena Davis) to disobey her husband and come along.

When Thelma flirts with a bar patron and he tries to rape her, Louise pulls a gun and rescues her friend; but in the process, she uses excessive force. The remainder of the film is one long huntdown drama/chase scene, as Louise refuses to negotiate with the authorities because of a bad prior experience with the system.

Profanity is extreme. Besides the attempted rape scene, Thelma later has implied sex with a drifter (Brad Pitt). There are several scenes of violence or threatened violence, as the stakes keep going up for the two fugitives.

The script is constructed so that Thelma and Louise are more or less forced into some of the desperate measures they take. The film has a definite feminist edge, portraying the women as victims of a patriarchal society.

In a conference of Hollywood biggies about movie violence (held in response to a school shooting by a first-grader), “Thelma and Louise” screenwriter Callie Khouri said that she intended the first scene of violence (in which Louise rescues Thelma from an attempted rape, and then shoots the smart-mouthed rapist AFTER both women are already safe) to convey a sad message of Louise having sealed her fate with that ill-advised act.

Khouri claimed she was shocked when she attended a theater screening and the audience cheered loudly at this scene. Assuming that she’s telling the truth, Khouri is admitting that she was out of touch with how her Oscar-winning screenplay would affect real people. The rapist certainly deserved punishment, but not summary vigilante justice. If that’s what feminism is all about, then unborn children aren’t the only ones endangered by it.

Although a few scenes are played for laughs, the subject matter is too serious to serve as light entertainment. And the overall mood of the film, which pits men and women against each other, is not healthy for anyone (Christian or otherwise) who takes its message too seriously.

I recommend skipping this one unless you’re a well-balanced, mature adult.