Fun, entertaining and stylish with good performances to boot but all these things are carrying what is merely an average story

Rating: 6/10 (1 February 2016)

Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) falls in love with call-girl Alabama (Patricia Arquette) and ends up getting married to her. When he hears of how brutally her pimp has treated her, Clarence has a violent showdown with him and Clarence takes from him what he believes to be Alabama's clothes (which turns out to be a suitcase full of cocaine). With the assistance of Clarence's estranged father, Clarence and Alabama flee with the cocaine with the intention of selling it to a major film producer. However stealing drugs carries major repercussions and Clarence and Alabama find themselves being pursued by both the owners of the drugs and the police.
Quentin Tarantino penned the screenplay for this film and what's most surprising here is that Tarantino merely serves up a fairly average script (one which lacks his usual creative flair). The story plays out as a sort of Bonnie and Clyde style road movie and pretty much every other drug related crime film in existence so there is very little in the way of originality here. Whilst the 'average' story is a weakness, thankfully it isn't a major one as the script is still interesting enough to make sure that one's attention never wanders.
One problem I did have with this film is that I felt that it wasn't quite as exciting as it could have been; the moment Christopher Walken's character showed up I expected him and his goons to terrorise Arquette and Slater more or less continuously, but aside from the one scene with Arquette and Gandolfini and the showdown at the end this is never really explored and it just meant that the film lacked that extra bit of intensity required to put it among the top tier of crime films.
Despite the above, part of the reason that this film does succeed is down to many well-known faces who command attention throughout; Walken is one of the highlights in this film and although his appearance is brief he makes damn sure it's a memorable one. The scene with Walken and Hopper was menacing and chilling (the two men are laughing at each other for a few minutes which was actually quite unnerving). This scene also contains some excellent 'Tarantinoesque' dialogue which is one thing that made Pulp Fiction both bizarre and fascinating. It's a shame that we're not treated to more of that here to be honest. Arquette is also excellent here and despite her being an accomplice of sorts she still shows a sort of vulnerability that endears us towards her. The rest of the supporting cast were OK, but I have to admit that Gary Oldman's performance here was a little embarrassing and for me no white man should try to be black. Oldman was fun here, but I suspect that this is a performance that he'd rather forget.
Tony Scott's direction is also very good and he certainly doesn't hold back in trying to bring some of Tarantino's vision to the big screen (the scene where Arquette and Gandolfini are fighting is shocking, brutal and realistic and is spoilt slightly towards the end of this scene by Scott allowing things to get silly and not knowing when to quit whilst he's ahead). The showdown at the end was silly, but at least it was fun.
For me, True Romance is a fairly average crime story but it's elevated by some magnificent performances, impressive direction, brutal style and a sense of fun that underlies all the menace. Worth watching for sure, but I definitely felt there was room for improvement.