To not under why Thelma and Louise is regarded so highly?

[MoominMantra]

Two women go on the run getting themselves into deeper and deeper shit until they finally commit suicide.

I find it really depressing. So what am I missing?

It's worth watching redwoodmazza to see how they get to that point.

"Just drive"
Love it. I wish that things hadn't spiralled so much that they could have just escaped their lives and lived happily ever after, but they did get freedom in the end,

It was the first film I went to see alone at the cinema. I was 22 and it was at a difficult time in my life. I loved it. At the time the ending was a total surprise but it made sense. They couldn't go back only forward. I must have seen it over a hundred times. I often put it on when I'm doing ironing because I don't need to concentrate on it.
Brad Pitt creeps me out in it but I've loved Harvey keitel ever since.
I think I need to watch it again but I don't want to do any bloody ironing

I think if you saw it at the time OP you might think differently?
It was totally groundbreaking for the time. It was a very important film.

It also needs to be thought of for the time it was made. Women as leads and a film that was basically just about women were rare.

Compared to modern films with may not feel as good but for it time it was pretty revolutionary.

I'm amused by this viewpoint. Where, pray, is the plethora of Hollywood films with women as leads that have appeared since T and L that make it seem like old hat?

There are lots of TV dramas these days with women as leads, far less films, but yes they do exist.
We are very far from women having equal amount of lead roles to men, or having enough films that are basically about women, but they do exist.
With Thelma and Louise for most people this was the first time ever they had seen a film that had this.

There are lots of TV dramas these days with women as leads, far less films, but yes they do exist.

I am reminded that "Prime Suspect" was also a 1990s production ...

Fabulous film. Exactly what @Maudebegone said.

Love this film. I despair at people calling it 'boring'

It’s a fabulous film

You also have to remember when this film was released it was very unusual for females to lead like this.

I actually like the ending, the crimes they committed were beyond there control really and to be fair I would of driven off a cliff rather than be arrested. Then I don’t really go in for the happily ever after endings as that is rarely how life works

DGRossetti And yes Prime Suspect was seen as ground breaking at the time for that exact reason.

DG - think Clare’s probably referring more to things like The Good Wife, Handmaid’s Tale, Big Little Lies, Happy Valley etc than Prime Suspect from the 90s.

Yes I watch something on TV most night with women in lead roles and quite a few that are about women. It is not rare any more.
Maybe if you are younger it is hard to understand how truly groundbreaking this film was at the time.

I think I’ve actually got “TV shows with a strong female lead” as a category on Netflix.

DG - think Clare’s probably referring more to things like The Good Wife, Handmaid’s Tale, Big Little Lies, Happy Valley etc than Prime Suspect from the 90s.

Oh, I know. But I'm sceptical as to whether there really has been such a change since the 1990s. If there had, surely a female Dr. Who wouldn't have raised an eyebrow ?

And there are still pathetically few big Hollywood films with female leads and men as only minor characters.

I was never impressed with this film even when it came out. I liked Brad Pitt in it (until he opens his mouth, he’s lovely to look at but no great actor!). The Geena Davies character drove me mad, I’d have sent her off that cliff on her own personally!

But, I was in my early 20's when this came out, and I can't remember feeling it was especially groundbreaking or revolutionary.
Maybe I was missing something?
I thought the Sarah Connor character in that Schwarzenegger film was more inspiring... and the Demi Moore character in A Few Good Men

Thelma is ditsy and uneducated, and when she begs to stop off in the bar and dances and gets drunk you get a sense of what she was like before she married awful Daryl. Then, after her near-rape, she’s mostly a bewildered passenger on Louise’s determination until Brad Pitt steals their money and Louise cracks up, and then she both comes into her own as a stylish bank robber and wrecks their chances of escaping the arm of the law.

I’m not sure ‘likeable’ is the point.

Properly in the mood to watch it again now. It's the ultimate film for women who have been through some shit! Is it on Netflix or Prime or anything I wonder.

YABVU - Have you seen Brad Pitt in this film?

That alone is enough to make it a classic for me.

He is (in this film) the most beautiful man I've ever seen - like a Greek God come to life. Which may be how he ended up actually playing one a decade or so later iirc. He wasn't so enjoyable in that tho.

Yay it's on the Netflix

Well that's my evening sorted

Ugh no, Brad Pitt always was awfully unattractive. Wouldn't touch him with yours.

Each to their own