History YMMV / ThelmaAndLouise

* NeverLiveItDown:
** The film is often accused of being anti-male - due to the prominent male characters including a rapist (who cheats on his wife), a lech, a verbally abusive husband, a seeming charmer who robs Louise's money and a cop who turns into a crybaby when a gun is pointed at him. This ignores that there are two positively portrayed male characters (Investigator Slocumb and Jimmy) and a good amount of the women's problems stem from Thelma - so the women aren't portrayed as 100% right either.
** In the 2000s a popular argument was that the film was reactionary for [[spoiler: killing off the two protagonists]] as an example of how Hollywood doesn't like strong women.
** Thelma is often attacked for her poor decision making throughout the film, ignoring that she's lived a sheltered life as a housewife well into her thirties, and she'd hardly be thinking like a criminal mastermind after having to go on the run on the spur of the moment. Heck, when she robs the store, she’s just using JD’s description of the act as a guide.
* NeverTrustATrailer: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iBFmKlO4BY The original 1991 trailer]] portrayed the movie as a road-trip-gone-wrong, female-empowerment comedy and implied that the police became involved after Thelma's controlling husband reported her missing, leading to viewers being blindsided by its serious themes and DownerEnding.

* LesYay: Ambiguous. They actually kiss at the end, but it might be a platonic thing rather than any romantic attraction. The picture of the two on the poster however has them looking very close.

* PlatonicKissing: Ambiguous. Right before the car goes over the cliff, the protagonists kiss and hold hands. It can be a moment of platonic friendship declaration rather than a romantic gesture, or be interpreted otherwise as Susan Sarandon has suggested in some interviews. It doesn't hurt that the dialogue just before they take the plunge sounds a lot like what characters say before TheirFirstTime.

* GirlShowGhetto: Despite its critical and commercial success, years after its release, it would often be mocked in pop culture for being "anti male" - and many late 90s and early 2000s shows would drop derogatory references to it as something only women who don't like men would enjoy.

** Whoever would have thought [[VideoGame/Dishonored Daud and Granny Rags]] had a relationship in the past?

* PlatonicKissing: Ambiguous. Right before the car goes over the cliff, the protagonists kiss and hold hands. It can be a moment of platonic friendship declaration rather than a romantic gesture, or be interpreted otherwise as Susan Sarandon has suggested in some interviews.

* LesYay: They actually kiss at the end, but it's a platonic thing rather than any romantic attraction. The picture of the two on the poster however has them looking very close.

* {{Narm}}: The rather contrived way that Jimmy just slides all the stuff off the hotel table as he exclaims "you're going to leave for fucking ever?" - which seems extremely out of place for a character who's soft spoken most of the time.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack is ''terrific.'' Glenn Frey, Toni Childs, B.B. King, Martha Reeves...and the main theme, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmAf4eXGR_g Thunderbird,]] by Music/HansZimmer.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The highway patrolman locked in his cruiser's trunk is found by a Rasta cyclist who had stopped to smoke marijuana. Upon realizing that the patrolman is trapped in the trunk, he blows smoke into the air holes. [[ShownTheirWork Which is pretty much what a Rasta would do in that situation.]] Possibly there to show that the patrolman didn't die in his trunk and avert WhatHappenedToTheMouse.

* SignatureScene: [[spoiler:Thelma and Louise driving towards a cliff once they have nowhere to go]].

** The film is often accused of being anti-male - due to the prominent male characters including a rapist (who cheats on his wife), a lech, a neglectful husband, a seeming charmer who robs Louise's money and a cop who turns into a crybaby when a gun is pointed at him. This ignores that there are two positively portrayed male characters (Investigator Slocumb and Jimmy) and a good amount of the women's problems stem from Thelma - so the women aren't portrayed as 100% right either.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* {{Anvilicious}}: Strong anti-UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming and anti-spousal-abuse message throughout. Also, there's a scene where the women pull over a catcalling trucker to lecture him on his boorish behavior.

* IdiotPlot:
** ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' makes fun of this, showing that the ladies [[spoiler:survived the fall but are horrifically, painfully, and irreparably handicapped and stuck in the bottom of the canyon]]. They then point out to each other that this was a really dumb move in hindsight, and that they'd probably had just gotten out of prison after a few years and still be able to live normal lives, and how prison seems ''so'' nice compared to their current condition.
** There are plenty of other moments where if the characters had two brain cells to rub together, they'd realize that what they're doing is '''very, very dumb'''. Left your life savings in a room with a random guy you picked off the road? Robbing a convenience store to get some quick cash? Calling the FBI agent who is on your tail for the 3rd time because you're feeling lonely (keep in mind that they finally manage to trace the call on ThirdTimesTheCharm)?

** The cop who turned into a blubbering mess when the girls had him at gunpoint was played by Jason Beghe. Yes, folks, ''that'' [[Series/ChicagoPD Jason Beghe]].

* ValuesResonance: [[https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/thelma-louise-holds-up-wella-little-too-well/484121/ And not in a good way]].