New movie #3:
True Romance is a 1993 Romace/Crime film starring Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. Notably, it was also written by Quentin Tarantino.
I'm maybe sometimes a little too critical of romantic movies. Having been forced (by family and friends) to sit through a few too many Adam Sandler schlockbusters, I think I have good reason to be on edge when a movie is titled "True Romance". Why is it that when screenwriters get handed this type of job, they loose all semblance of originality?
No, I'm not afraid of the softer side of human emotion. Hell, I have a triple feature box set of Alfred Hitchcock romances (to be reviewed) sitting beside me. I'm simply not a fan of generic, commercialised BS. Naturally, this movie wont fare well unless it can bring something fresh to the table...
The story starts off with Clarence Worley (Slater) meeting Alabama Whitman (Arquette) while watching a triple feature of kung-fu movies in a theatre. Later they go on a date (which escalates quickly).
However, Alabama soon reveals to Clarence that she was a call girl hired by his boss as a birthday present, but that she's fallen in love with him (groan...). Soon (like, really very soon), they're married. Clarence ends up killing her pimp (played by Gary Oldman) and steals several hundred thousand dollars worth in cocaine.
Okay, so, that last bit with the pimp killing and cocaine stealing was a bit of a left turn (or would have been if Tarantino hadn't been the writer). And, the rest of the movie follows suit. This really isn't the boring crap that we've come to expect from the genre.
I'm a big fan of the whole 90s crime cinema thing, and this is a decent example. It's actually more of a Tarantino-esque crime film built around a romance than just a romantic movie.
Honestly, the love story itself isn't that great. It moves forward super fast, and (despite the call girl thing), isn't that new. However, this is a story that has a lot to offer besides that. Tarantino's writing in nimble, the dialogue is witty (although, a few lines very closely resemble stuff he would use later on in his own films). The film is also at times either very funny or very emotional, which can be hard to pull off.
One thing that particularly bothered me, but shouldn't be taken as a strike against the film, was the movie theatre scene. Alabama waltzes in in the middle of the movie, intentionally spills popcorn on Clarence, lights up a cigarette and tries to engage in conversation. Probably 70% of my pet peeves involve movie theatres, and this bothered me to no end. I don't care how attractive Patrica Arquette is, talking/smoking/whatever in a movie theatre is like the ultimate turn off. This isn't something that is really to do with the quality of the film, though. Just something that bugged me.
Christian Slater plays a pop culture obsessed cool guy who works at a comic book shop. However, he shows that he has a dark side too, and manages to play both sides pretty subtly.
Patricia Arquette's performance is okay. Sometimes she takes the giggly-ness a bit too far, which can be a bit annoying. She does, however, play the more emotional moments of the film rather well.
Both leads do a decent job, but where the movie really shines is the supporting cast. A few actors who stick out were:
Christopher Walken, who plays a Sicilian thug who's after the leads because of the cocaine. He really does an excellent job playing a (maybe) psychopath.
Brad Pitt, who plays a character who's really just there to move the story forward, but makes it really interesting. He's a stoner who (apparently) never leaves home and watches tv and smokes all day.
Gary Oldman, who plays Drexel the pimp. This guy is maybe the best part of the movie. He's so insane, it's great. Gary Oldman is always awesome as a villain (go see Luc Besson's "Leon the Professional" and "The Fifth Element").
The soundtrack is excellent. There are quite a few classic rock n' roll tunes that you might recognise. The ost, by Hans Zimmer, is very good too, taking an almost ironic approach with music that sounds like it would be well suited to a Tarzan movie.
The image is pretty sharp and the colours are (as is to be expected from a sex, drugs, rock n' roll pop culture obsessed crime comedy) very vibrant. As Vincent Vega once said, it's like a wax museum with a pulse.
Oh, and those Hawaiian shirts are great.
I liked this movie. It's certainly not without it's flaws and (cringe) movie theatre antics. I wouldn't say it's as good as many of the great 90s crime dramas (Pulp Fiction, Resevoir Dogs, Goodfellas, The Usual Suspects, Boogie Nights etc.), but it's certainly worth giving a watch, and giving a:
7/10