While on a forgettable first date together in Ohio, a black man and a black woman are pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. The situation escalates, with sudden and tragic results.
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Reviews
SWITCH.
5
By SWITCH.
To its credit, 'Queen & Slim' features some pretty stellar performances and great camerawork but has to work against the mammoth influence of its writing and pacing to make something memorable, and ultimately fails. It's a shame because Matsoukas shows promise as a filmmaker and clearly has important things to say, but appears to buckle under the pressure of having to do so.
- Ashley Teresa
Read Ashley's full article...
https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-queen-and-slim-a-worthwhile-tale-with-bumpy-storytelling
Peter McGinn
8
By Peter McGinn
Queen & Slim was entertaining overall, and its social messaging that might have turned off viewers of a certain political world view worked for me. It will not make my greatest movie list, but it held my interest. Not because of its theme or message so much, but more for the character depth and development. I liked how the two main characters don't really even like each other (well, her at least) at first but began to grow on each other. Also, except for the fat cop and e dude near the end with the money, there didn't seem to be any two-dimensional characters. They are all given some depth.
Okay, there are some plot threads shared with movies like Bonnie and Clyde and Thelma and Louise, but there are enough differences to make it still worth watching. The soundtrack didn't particularly grab me, but as an older white dude, I am probably not the primary audience intended for that music. I think I might watch it again after some time passes, as I suspect it might be one of those films where you take something new away from it during a second viewing.
CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
The eponymous couple - Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith have hit it off after their first date and are driving when they are pulled over by a traffic cop. Quite quickly, things spiral out of control with both her and the cop shot - the latter, fatally. Almost immediately, they become Ohio's most wanted and with just about everyone on their tail. What happens next? On the face if it, the storyline is a little contrived to suit the point the film is trying to make: two innocent African Americans shoot bigoted white policeman in "self defence" - but the story actually develops into something less routine and more objective. It uses both of these characters to illustrate excesses in the behaviour of both sides, the stereotypical attitudes that prevail and Turner-Smith is, especially, at the top of her game as the lawyer who's conflicted pretty much from the start as to what ought to be their plan. To turn themselves in for "justice" or to flee assuming they won't get it! It's a romance with a little gritty humour to help humanise a fairly torrid scenario and the supporting effort from Bokeem Woodbine's "Uncle Earl" helps to add a little perspective to the story as it heads to a poignant, though entirely predicable, conclusion that did have shades of "Butch Cassidy..." to it. Subtly, the message of never judging a book by it's cover is quite poignantly made here and the film, though probably half an hour too long, makes the point forcefully.
