Breathless

The main problem with Jesse Baget's 'Breathless' is that it takes itself too seriously thinking that it's slicker, cleverer and funnier than it actually is. The weak script is perforated with holes. The dialogues try to be clever and funny but they hardly impress. A movie like this really needs to sustain its tension and element of suspense but every breath that 'Breathless' takes is predictable. Moreover, the pacing drags especially the dialogue ridden scenes that after a point sounds like mumbo jumbo. Of the performances, Gina Gershon does a fine job. Kelli Giddish performs adequately. Val Kilmer is funny in a brief role. Ray Liotta is far from his best. Production value looks quite good. All in all, 'Breathless' is lacks the life to sustain the viewer's attention. For a dark comedy, its just not that funny.

Fun, intelligent, full of plot twist, comical, good performances, lots of blood, betrayals, thief who steals thief... Well...

The movie starts off pretty good, but descents fast too. Still it is nice to see Val Kilmer in a decent role (does not happen that often, but then again he is not the main actor here and he doesn't have a lot to do either, so that might help the fact), plus Gina Gershon can show some things she might have learned during "Bound". Ray Liotta is a side note and the whole thing is very predictable.

Funny enough (or not): While the movie tries to be clever, the coincidences and other things that just happen conveniently, really destroy the whole thing and make you wonder, what they were thinking. The basic idea was nice and the accents are interesting too (though some might say this is a bit of a one sided look at Texas), but the overall movie fails to impress. An extra point for trying though ...

Lorna (Gina Gershon) is convinced that her no-good husband is responsible for a recent bank robbery. She enlists the help of long-time friend, Tiny (Kelli Giddish), to help find the money. In short order, Lorna has her husband tied to a chair and shoots him in the head. Now, in addition to finding the money, Lorna and Tiny have a body to dispose of.

I had never heard of Breathless until it was recommended to me by a streaming platform. The plot summary sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a whirl. Overall, I wasn't very impressed. The main problem I had is that the film is never quite as smart and funny as it wants to be. I felt like Lorna's ramblings were meant to evoke a Tarantino-like feeling, but the writing's just not clever enough. In fact, I found much of the dialogue-heavy first half of the film a bit boring. It wasn't until the scene-stealing PI (played spectacularly by Wayne Duvall) showed up that things got interesting. So, even though I liked much of the second half of Breathless, my overall enjoyment had already suffered as I was ready to throw in the towel at about the 45 minute mark.

Finally, I generally like Gina Gershon, but I didn't care for her as Lorna. She gives her all to the role, but for me, she seems miscast. I don't see her as a housewife living in a single-wide in the middle of nowhere Texas.

4/10.

Given the nature of the film, a very smart pick for the lead character, but the rest of the character choices end up being one of the few problem areas of the film. 80 of 100.

What if the younger character in Thelma and Louise had followed the normal path, remained a waitress, grown old, and become a deteriorating middle-aged housewife? This film provides one amusingly satirical answer to that question.

Destined to be a cable and cult classic where big name actors and a big ad budget isn't necessary. The lying and counter lying mixed with the Texas setting makes it something worth repeat viewings.