Thelma and Louise (1991)

Sight and Sound
"...Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon get good mileage out of their roles..." 07/01/1991 p.55-6

USA Today
"...THELMA & LOUISE is a funny, provocative, on-the-road buddy pic about some existential choices..." -- 3 1/2 out of 4 stars 05/24/1991 p.1D

Los Angeles Times
"...Provocative, poignant and heartbreakingly funny....It manages its success almost offhandedly, with a casual grace..." 05/24/1991 p.F1

Entertainment Weekly
"...A buddy flick about two fully realized female characters....Personal vision and Hollywood rules can combine to surprising effect..." 02/07/2003 p.59

Reel.com 10 of 10
Khouri's script is smart and insightful, and Ridley Scott's direction is strong (even epic at times), but most of Thelma and Louise's success comes from the strength of its cast. It's impossible to imagine anyone except Davis and Sarandon in the lead roles -- they are Thelma and Louise. Davis, in particular, has rarely had a better role. Her evolution from wide-eyed wife to confident gun moll is surprisingly easy to believe; Thelma, Davis makes you see, just needed some time and space (and distance from oafish husband Darryl, played to a T by Christopher McDonald) to become the woman she really was...The supporting cast is also strong. Keitel makes one of his more understated appearances as Hal Slocumb, the investigator who can't help sympathizing with the women he's been charged with hunting down. McDonald, as mentioned, is great as the cluelessly repugnant man Thelma cheerfully leaves behind. And then, of course, there's Brad Pitt, whose role as J.D., the pretty-boy hitchhiker Thelma convinces Louise to take with them, is the one that made him a star -- his potential is as clear here as his carefully chiseled abs. - Betsy Bozdech
 
Rolling Stone 8 of 10
Call it a comedy of shocking gravity. Thelma & Louise begins like an episode of I Love Lucy and ends with the impact of Easy Rider. It's a bumpy path between those points, and director Ridley Scott (Black Rain) and first-time screenwriter Callie Khouri don't cushion the ride. The film switches moods violently, and sometimes it just jerks your chain. But this is movie dynamite, detonated by award-caliber performances from Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon in the title roles...As the film plunges toward its lacerating climax, some may have conflicting feelings about Thelma and Louise: Are they feminist martyrs or bitches from hell? Neither is the case. They're flesh-and-blood women out to expose the blight of sexism. Khouri's script isn't about rage or revenge; it's about waste. Director Scott, whose films (Alien, Blade Runner) are noted for their slick surface, cuts to the marrow this time. This wincingly funny, pertinent and heartbreaking road movie means to get under your skin, and it does. - Peter Travers
 
The Washington Post 9 of 10
In the mythology of movies, "Thelma & Louise" is off the shoulder and ahead of the curve. An exhilarating vehicle for Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, it spins its wheels in a giddy sort of way, then puts the pedal to the mettle, lays rubber and fairly takes wing. It's lucky they're driving a T-Bird...Thelma (Davis) is a bored housewife with a sexist carpet salesman husband, and Louise (Sarandon) is an overworked waitress with a boyfriend who can't commit. They are fairly choking on the limitations of their female roles when the pair set out on a weekend fishing vacation that turns into a National Lampoon seminar on empowerment. The ladies run into many men along the way -- none of them is Mr. Goodwrench exactly -- and they just get mad as Max...That's not to say that Thelma and Louise are male-bashers or that the movie is a load of spiteful feminism. A first screenplay by Callie Khouri, this liberating adventure has a woman's perspective, yes, but one that aims to give moviegoers of both sexes an ungirdled good time. This is one chick movie that isn't about to whine, bitch or back-seat-drive. Ridley Scott, the director who gave us Ripley in "Alien," wouldn't allow it, and for that matter, neither would Davis or Sarandon...Anyhow, this is Scott's best film since "Blade Runner." Known for his artistry, he turns a movie into a symphony for the eye. But here, the red dirt and wide expanses of the American West serve less as a canvas for the director than a backdrop for these richly realized desperadoes. Davis is as dazzling as high beams on a dark night, and Sarandon fiercely hard-boiled as her ever-ready foil...If "The Witches of Eastwick" marked a turn against faltering feminism, "Thelma & Louise" signals the end of the detour. Bumper-sticker sassy and welcome as a rest stop, this is one sweet ragtop ride, worth hitching if you don't mind getting your hair blown. - Rita Kempley
 
Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"Thelma & Louise" is in the expansive, visionary tradition of the American road picture. It celebrates the myth of two carefree souls piling into a 1956 T-Bird and driving out of town to have some fun and raise some hell. We know the road better than that, however, and we know the toll it exacts: Before their journey is done, these characters with have undergone a rite of passage, and will have discovered themselves...What sets "Thelma & Louise" aside from the great central tradition of the road picture -- a tradition roomy enough to accommodate "Easy Rider," "Bonnie and Clyde," "Badlands," "Midnight Run" and "Rain Man" -- is that the heroes are women this time: Working-class girlfriends from a small Arkansas town, one a waitress, the other a housewife, both probably ready to describe themselves as utterly ordinary, both containing unexpected resources..."Thelma & Louise" was directed by Ridley Scott, from Britain, whose previous credits ("Blade Runner," "Black Rain," "Legend") show complete technical mastery but are sometimes not very interested in psychological questions. This film shows a great sympathy for human comedy, however, and it's intriguing the way he helps us to understand what's going on inside the hearts of these two women...I would have rated the movie at four stars, instead of three and a half, except for one shot, the last shot before the titles begin. This is the catharsis shot, the payoff, the moment when Thelma and Louise arrive at the truth that their whole journey has been pointed toward, and Scott and his editor, Thom Noble, botch it...It's unsettling to get involved in a movie that takes 128 minutes to bring you to a payoff that the filmmakers seem to fear. If Scott and Mount had let the last shot run an additional seven to ten seconds, and then held the fade to white for a decent interval, they would have gotten the payoff they deserved. Can one shot make that big of a difference? This one does. - Roger Ebert