Bonnie and Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde was unwatchable for me. I literally stopped watching. There were some fun elements: the idea was fun (there's nothing like a bank robbery movie); the character concepts worked; I respect the car chase and shootout scenes for what they were trying to do. 

Overall, though, it was a bad script and it was tough to tell if the directing was awful, or the editing, or both. The introduction of CW Moss as a character was one of the most awkward scenes I've watched. It honestly felt like this movie took place on an alien world much like ours but with slightly different customs. 

If this movie were made today, I think it would have focused much more on a Robin Hood through-line. The scene where Bonnie and Clyde are doing some shooting practice, and we see a Depression family pull up to the house they lost and take pot shots at it with our two heroes would have been a jumping off point. They don't just rob banks: they rob banks to return money to the families who've been forced into poverty. There's a nod to that, and a feeling that that's what's happening, but we never fully see it. If the movie had committed to that, I'd be fine with it.

Instead, the movie did something braver. It tried to commit to the banditry of Bonnie and Clyde (based on a true story of course). I love that idea. But it was trying to tell 3 stories and couldn't even tell one well. The complexity of the lack of sexual chemistry between Bonnie and Clyde is an interesting topic, but it was done so poorly with weirdly long cuts and uncomfortable acting, that it never made sense (in the 50+ minutes I watched). Then there was the motivation behind Clyde's actions in the first place. We loosely put those together, but we don't ever get to see why he does what he does. Unless I missed something, he's just a bandit. It makes sense that his brother is a bad guy too, but even that scene of reuniting with Gene Hackman was like that alien thing again. They were on a different world altogether where there are some customs that are just a little bit different. 

I guess in hindsight the coolest part is that they incorporated the pictures at the start of the film of the real Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barrow gang. 

Overall, I give the movie half a thumb up at best. 

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