TRUE ROMANCE
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1993 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Michael Rapaport, Bronson Pinchot, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer. Screenplay: Quentin Tarrantino. Director: Tony Scott.
What do you say about a movie when you thought it was filled with great scenes, but that they didn't add up to a great movie? That is the problem I have after seeing TRUE ROMANCE, the new film from screenwriter Quentin Tarrantino (RESERVOIR DOGS) and director Tony Scott (BEVERLY HILLS COP 2, THE LAST BOY SCOUT). As one might expect from that pairing, this is no tea party; it's a violent, high energy thrill ride filled with quirk characters usually engaged in shooting, getting shot at, beating the hell out of someone, or getting the hell beat out of them. The pacing is frantic, and the character interplay generally engaging. Perhaps the problem is that when it's all over, I'm not quite sure whether there was a point beyond a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) is a Detroit comic book store clerk with a fondness for Elvis Presley and martial arts movies. While taking in a triple-feature of the latter on his birthday, Clarence meets Alabama (Patricia Arquette), a sweet young thing who turns out to be a call girl hired by his boss. However, it turns out to be more than just business as the two get married the next morning. When Clarence visits Alabama's pimp (Gary Oldman) to pick up her things, he ends up instead with a suitcase full of uncut cocaine. The newlyweds take off for California, a collection of none-too-pleased Mafiosi hard at their heels.
The first half-hour of TRUE ROMANCE, focusing on Clarence and Alabama's whirlwind courtship, is perhaps its most coherent. The story is focused on two characters, and we have a chance to get to know something about them. As Clarence, Slater is cool and charismatic; Arquette is appealing in a sketchy role (Tarrantino seems to need some work writing women). From there, the story launches into a collection of vignettes, many of which pack a solid punch. Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken share a tense, dynamic scene as Clarence's father and a dapper mobster trying to discover Clarence's whereabouts, respectively. Bronson Pinchot has some standout moments as a Hollywood sycophant with a particularly weak stomach. Scene after scene was either hilarious or gripping or both, but I felt distracted by the sheer number of supporting characters who appeared then disappeared all in a matter of minutes. It's an odd sort of compliment which becomes complaint: I didn't get enough of almost every character. The cast list is filled with "names," but Michael Rapaport as Clarence's struggling actor buddy has more screen time than most of them. Much as it did for me in THE PLAYER, though to a lesser degree, the star counting just got in the way.
The story is fairly simple; what makes the film stand out is Tarrantino's marvelous ear for dialogue. There's not a cliche'd line to be found, and it makes the characters vibrant and alive. Unfortunately, Tony Scott doesn't do the script the justice it deserves. I readily admit that I consider Scott a hack as a director. He seems to have only two gears, monster close-up or rapid edit fight scene, and he has cinematographer Jeffrey Kimball filter every shot through a veil of smoke. With the intensity of Tarrantino's material, a subtler touch is required. I give Scott credit for a nifty roller-coaster sequence, but apart from that the monotony of the direction wore on me. He even cannibalizes his own silhouette sex scene from TOP GUN. I expected to hear "Take My Breath Away" at any moment.
When it comes right down to it, I was entertained by TRUE ROMANCE. Tarrantino knows how to deliver action and sharply drawn characters which keep the viewer engaged. I should also make special mention of Hans Zimmer's infectious Calypso-tinged percussion score, which lent a heightened sense of the surreal. For me, however, this was a textbook case of the whole not equaling the sum of the parts. There was no real emotional linchpin, like Mr. Orange in RESERVOIR DOGS, to engage me beyond the purely visceral, and I can only care about a movie so far if I didn't care about any of the characters.
Like the roller-coaster in the film, TRUE ROMANCE offers on philosophical truths, just a neck-snapping, gut churning white knuckler of a time. If that's what you're looking for, that's what you'll find. And then some.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 loop-de-loops: 7.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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