True Romance

Even though the material could have been handled better by the director, I still can’t give less than a four to Tarantino’s script. I imagine that the scene with Vincenzo Cocotti would probably have been one of the film’s highlights had Tarantino been the director. Otherwise, it must be the dream of many men (and possibly women) to have such a cute, blonde, indestructible bodyguard who is constantly smiling and always happy to snuggle. Anyway, I enjoyed the film and if the director shared the screenwriter's sense of humor, I would have enjoyed it beyond 5*. (07/30/2017)

Aside from Walken's Vincenzo, there's nothing here worth remembering. The dialogue lacks the bite that Tarantino would later apply to Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction. Even Scott doesn't have the form or ideas of his earlier or future films. Slightly above average, it entertains more in individual scenes than as a whole. (01/31/2005)

This is an unusual film for Tony Scott. The brutality and the the camera filters are expected, but self-parody and exaggeration are not exactly commonly seen attributes with which this Hollywood staple presents itself. But Quentin Tarantino's screenplay was more than a quality material, and so it came to what I did not expect. Scott essentially made two very similar films back to back. The captivating and melancholic Revenge and the more cheerful, crazier, and freer True Romance. For fans of classic story structure, true love, nostalgic music, tough main characters, and “American inevitability”, I recommend skipping the romance and going straight to Revenge. For fans of a rough and bloody ride, whose madness and craziness know no bounds, as well as fans of the Tarantino style, I recommend option B. My rating speaks for itself. (12/14/2008)

The most movie-like movie. Optimistic, light-hearted, except for the scenes with total massacres and the main thing is love beyond the grave. I can’t help myself thinking that this is the sort of movie that says that the world is sometimes a pile of shit, but sometimes it’s very fine. Sometimes. When you have somebody to wander the world with. This is perhaps one of Tarantino’s most restrained screenplays, but this gives his fans a good chance to sit back and enjoy his work. And Elvis! (10/20/2011)

A brilliant, almost Tarantino-esque film that fills out beautifully and accurately the ninety-third year, hence the year-long directorial hiatus in Q.T.'s output – a break in the very fruitful period between Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction). I think it's time to look back a bit at the nineties work of perhaps my all-time favorite, Quentin. I've seen Reservoir Dogs, I've seen Pulp Fiction, I've seen Jackie Brown, I've seen Natural Born Killers (which, despite being "just" a Tarantino screenplay, I consider a Tarantino movie in a way). The only thing I missed was True Romance, and I put it off for so long really only because Q.T. didn't end up directing it. However, Tony Scott has some balls too, and once again he took on a superbly layered, thoughtful, and funny script with all the panache he could muster and really managed to wring the most out of the action scenes. The early work of Q.T. was already clearly proving that both in terms of screenwriting (just in the actual construction of the plot) and in terms of being able to get a bunch of interesting characters on screen and create atmosphere through their "mere" actions and behavior, Tarantino was just going to be a whiz. And that Zimmer soft soundtrack in the "romantic" passages was not to be missed! (07/26/2011)