Thieves Like Us

In the barest of ways, Thieves Like Us resembles the iconoclastic Bonnie and Clyde, but unlike that film, Thieves doesn’t present us with anti-heroes seeking to dismantle the existing structures and paying for it. No, Thieves presents us with a group of idiots who just so happen to rob banks and be in the criminal business, because what else are they going to do in-between bouts of hanging out and drinking Coke and listening to music?

Thieves Like Us reminded me of a shambling, narrative-less hang-out film like Mean Streets. There’s a central romance between Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall that gives the film a semblance of a cohesive narrative structure, but it never really centers on anything much. It’s not an all encompassing work of intricate observation and genius like Altman’s The Long Goodbye or Nashville, but it’s a good time. Altman still prefers to sit back and observe his characters and their situations, but the violent dénouement doesn’t give Thieves a deeper meaning. It just feels like a last-ditch effort to give these characters some pathos. This wasn’t necessary, they were much more fun being a pack of idiots, falling in love, robbing some banks, and generally hanging around.