Thelma and Louise Ridley Scott

The film received widespread critical acclaim. Janet Maslin of The New York Times had only praise for the film in her review:

Mr. Scott's Thelma and Louise, with a sparkling screenplay by the first-time writer Callie Khouri, is a surprise on this and many other scores. It reveals the previously untapped talent of Mr. Scott (best known for majestically moody action films like Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain) for exuberant comedy, and for vibrant American imagery, notwithstanding his English roots. It reimagines the buddy film with such freshness and vigor that the genre seems positively new. It discovers unexpected resources in both its stars, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who are perfectly teamed as the spirited and original title characters.[21]

Roger Ebert also praised the film, writing "What sets 'Thelma & Louise' aside from the great central tradition of the road picture -- a tradition roomy enough to accommodate 'Easy Rider,' 'Bonnie and Clyde,' 'Badlands,' 'Midnight Run' and 'Rain Man' -- is that the heroes are women this time: Working-class girlfriends from a small Arkansas town, one a waitress, the other a housewife, both probably ready to describe themselves as utterly ordinary, both containing unexpected resources."[22] He added, "This film shows a great sympathy for human comedy", and "Sarandon and Davis find in Callie Khouri's script the materials for two plausible, convincing, lovable characters. And as actors they work together like a high-wire team, walking across even the most hazardous scenes without putting a foot wrong."[22] However, Ebert deducted half a star from his four-star review on the basis of "the last shot before the titles begin. It's a freeze frame that fades to white, which is fine, except it does so with unseemly haste .... It's unsettling to get involved in a movie that takes 128 minutes to bring you to a payoff that the filmmakers seem to fear."[22]

The film also received harsh criticism from those who thought it was biased against men and that its depictions of men were unfairly negative.[23][24][25][26] In response to these criticisms, Maslin and Khouri claimed that Thelma & Louise was being subjected to a double standard, as unethical behavior in male-driven road movies had not provoked a similar level of backlash.[27][28][1] Maslin argued that viewers were simply offended at how "men in this story don't really matter ... They are treated as figures in the landscape through which these characters pass, and as such they are essentially powerless. For male characters, perhaps, this is a novelty, but women in road movies have always been treated in precisely the same way."[27] In response to claims that the film had no sympathetic male characters, Khouri pointed to the character of Hal Slocumb, the Arkansas detective who shows empathy for Thelma and Louise’s situation. Khouri said that Hal represents "the moral sense of the audience".[28] She also said she wrote the script in "a conscious effort to counter" Hollywood's tendency to portray women as "bimbos, whores and nagging wives."[28] Khouri added, "If [critics are] feeling threatened, [they're] identifying with the wrong character."[28]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and peppered with action, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is a potent, well-acted road movie that transcends the feminist message at its core."[29] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 88 based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[30]

The film placed second to The Silence of the Lambs as the best film of 1991 in a poll of 81 critics.[31]

Accolades

American Film Institute

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - #78[52]
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Heroes and Villains - #24[53]
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills - #76[54]

The British Film Institute published a book about the film in 2000[55] as part of a Modern Classics series. On the Writers Guild of America Award's list of 101 best screenplays, it made No. 72.[56]