Amazon Prime Video has the cream of the crop when it comes to April additions to its movie library.
The top streamer has added fantastic flicks like Titanic, Top Gun and The Aviator, featuring stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise.
But Watch With Us thinks there’s one movie in particular that you should make time for.
This April, Prime Video has also added Thelma & Louise, the classic road trip crime movie starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as two women who rebel against their oppressive lives.
We break down why it’s one to watch.
‘Thelma and Louise’ Is the Definition of a Timeless Movie
Directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Callie Khouri, Thelma & Louise tells the story of Thelma Dickinson (Davis) and Louise Sawyer (Sarandon), two very different women who decide to embark on a weekend excursion to a fishing cabin. Thelma is a dissatisfied and sheltered housewife married to a controlling carpet salesman (Christopher McDonald), while Louise is more of a loose cannon and works as a waitress. When the two stop at a bar, a man (Timothy Carhart) who flirts and dances with Thelma ultimately tries to rape her. When Louise sees this happening, she threatens to shoot him with Thelma’s husband’s gun that she packed — and, ultimately, she does.
Thelma & Louise is about two women who don’t always see eye to eye but have unflinching loyalty to one another, and the film is about them realizing their truest selves together while sticking it to the patriarchy — something that manages to feel both universal and cathartic. Khouri’s script works hand-in-hand with Scott’s direction, who takes such an intimate story and turns it into an American epic while simultaneously never losing sight of the close bond between his characters. Scott understands what’s so great about the screenplay and creates a modern Western with two complex and unforgettable female characters at the center.
It Beautifully Showcases Two Women Finding Their Freedom
Thelma & Louise is one of the best “girl power” movies of all time, but it’s not preachy, and it’s not superficial, either. For the time, the movie was quite groundbreaking in its depiction of two women taking control of their lives from the ones that society would rather relegate them to, a movie whose foundation is based on mutual love and respect between the protagonists as they face the worst possible scenarios together. As we watch these characters grow through their arcs, we see Thelma evolve from naive, submissive housewife into a confident and independent woman; conversely, we watch Louise navigate the trauma that has come to define her and harden her.
But over thirty years on and Thelma & Louise has managed to lose none of its bite. It is a movie about women’s rage, agency and about breaking from the oppressive shackles that society has placed on women — something that, unfortunately, women continue to reckon with and be held back by. But instead of a hollow empowerment narrative that many modern feminist films fall victim to, the screenplay shows us these two very complex and richly depicted characters and allows them to go on a journey to reach their truest, most authentic selves. Also, at the end of the day, it’s just awesome to watch a movie in which women are allowed to be the outlaws.
The Characters Are Challenging in a Good Way
Part of what makes Thelma & Louise such an exhilarating movie about women is that it allows our protagonists to be morally questionable in their decision-making. Thelma and Louise aren’t perfect, flawless heroes, and even Louise’s initial murder of the man who attempted to rape Thelma is ethically murky. Though the man decides to back off with a gun pointed at him, it’s his refusal to apologize for attempted rape and calling her a bitch that causes Louise to pull the trigger. At the time, many critics were polarized by the film’s depictions of violence committed by women. Are these ladies just behaving like men? Is it hollow feminism after all?
It’s these questions that Thelma & Louise prod at its audiences that are a huge part of what makes it such an iconic, enduring work. Not all movies should be an easy pill to swallow, and in fact, the best movies are the ones that dare to challenge our perspectives. When Thelma and Louise meet handsome robber J.D. (Brad Pitt) and he, of course, robs them, Thelma sticks up a store herself. She didn’t have to, and she probably shouldn’t have, yet she does it anyway because she wants to. Is it wrong to find it so thrilling and cathartic? Men get to be bad all the time, and we still love them for it; why should they get to have all the fun?
And that’s the ultimate appeal of Thelma & Louise. It’s a movie that lets its wild women run loose, and invites you along for the ride. It was rare for films to do that in 1991, and it’s still uncommon in 2026.
Stream Thelma & Louise now on Prime Video.
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