True Romance

The last thing I expected walking into “True Romance” was to find a love story I’d latch onto. Honestly, when I took a look at that poster, saw a 24-yeard-old Christian Slater brandishing a gun and heard that Quentin Tarantino penned the screenplay, I figured the romance was a play on words or an ironic statement. There’s nothing like being pleasantly surprised to make your day. This 1993 action romance film delivers on both fronts and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) has just gone on the best date of his life. Alabama Whiteman (Patricia Arquette) is head over heels in love with him and they decide to marry that night. When he learns that she’s a call girl, he’s ok with it but feels the need to sever all ties between her and her pimp. In doing so, he brings the both of them into a world of danger, fraud, drugs and violence.

There’s a nice twisty plot here with some great dialogue, plenty of action and more than a few tense moments. What I want to talk about is the romance. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette make such a sweet couple. They’re two people that aren’t quite right, but together they’re perfect. They’re a little misguided sure, but nobody else in the world could fall for Clarence or Alabama the way the other does. Once you latch onto that idea, you want them to triumph over every obstacle. Yeah they made some mistakes along the way. Some people got hurt, but if it’s any consolation… they weren’t very nice people and they sort of had it coming. These two though, they’re good. If anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s these two. This love story is the stone upon which the whole plot is built. Little details like the way they fawn over each other, the choice of music as they embrace, their dialogue and the way they interact, it makes the danger feel real and the victories feel like a million bucks.

I’m not sure what kind of date I’d like to show “True Romance” to. It’s a violent film that is a little bit off it’s rocker, but if you sense that this premise might be your guy or gal’s kind of thing, it’s a great find. On top of that romance, there are a lot of colourful and memorable characters throughout. Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Dennis Hopper have small roles, but they are having fun with the dialogue they’re given. Oldman in particular stood out to be. He can’t be on-screen for more than 5 minutes but he’s created such an eccentric weirdo in the character of Drexl Spivey that he brands his performance into your memory instantly. There are plenty of little touches here and there to fall in love with in this picture. It’s very peculiar, but I like it. If there’s one thing I cared less for, it’s this one exchange where the N word gets dropped a lot, and I didn’t feel like it added to the plot very much at all. Just one thing though? That’s pretty good. The tone of this story makes it unpredictable too, a nice bonus.

I wasn’t sure in which direction “True Romance” was going to go. There are a lot of films like it but, but none exactly like it. Even when comparing it to the stories that come close, there’s enough here, little moments and that central relationship between the leads that makes it stand out. I foresee myself revisiting this tale of love and bullets. “True Romance” was a more than pleasant surprise. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 8, 2016)