Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 11, 1993 TAG: 9309140077
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This is the story of Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) and Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette). He works in a Detroit comic book store. She's embarking on a career as a prostitute. After a curiously contrived meeting, they fall in love and get married. Then Clarence decides that he must retrieve his beloved's belongings from her pimp, Drexl (Gary Oldman), a white guy who pretends to be black.
Following the standard and predictable Hollywood story formula, that act sends Clarence and Alabama heading for Hollywood in a purple Caddy convertible with a gaggle of gangsters on their trail. On hand for scenery-chomping cameos are Christopher Walken as a mob lawyer, Dennis Hopper as Clarence's father, Val Kilmer as the spirit of Elvis Presley and Brad Pitt as a terminally stoned roommate.
The script is by Quentin Tarantino, a currently hot young writer responsible for the cult hit "Reservoir Dogs." This story borrows freely from a variety of sources. The most obvious is David Lynch's "Wild at Heart." Though comparisons have been made to "Bonnie and Clyde," those are exaggerated. "Bonnie and Clyde" has a sense of reality and human complexity that "True Romance" steadfastly avoids.
The film is filled with "in" movie jokes and references to other films. Director Tony Scott ("Top Gun," "The Last Boy Scout") has really worked hard to give the action the glossy polish, vivid colors and jittery pace of a rock video. At his best, he is able to create extended set pieces, individual scenes that almost stand apart from the rest of the film. The most memorable are the confrontation between Walken and Hopper, a long fight in a gaudy motel room and, of course, the big violence-for-its-own-sake gun battle at the end.
Still, though, all the cinematic tricks and expensive production values can't hide the fact that "True Romance" is a B-movie. Not that many years ago, it would have opened at the Lee-Hi drive-in on a double bill with "Moonshine County Express." Today, in terms of plot, character development, intelligence and audience expectation, it's about the same as the video originals that show up in stores every week.
For mindless, violent entertainment, "True Romance" fills the bill. Moviegoers who want to see something with a little weight will have to look elsewhere.
True Romance: **
A Warner Bros. release playing at the Valley View Mall 6 and Salem Valley 8. 120 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, sexual content, brief nudity.
by CNB