Breathless

Directed by Jim McBride, Breathless follows Richard Gere’s Jesse Lujack as he attempts to convince Valérie Kaprisky’s Monica to run away with him to Mexico. Filmmaker McBride, armed with a screenplay written alongside L. M. Kit Carson, delivers a periodically watchable yet mostly tiresome endeavor that contains few elements designed to sustain the viewer’s interest, and it is, ultimately, Gere’s electric, live-wire performance that ensures that the picture never entirely wears out its welcome – with the actor’s perpetually engaging turn elevating the proceedings on an all-too-regular basis. (Kaprisky’s wooden work here, on the other hand, prevents the Jesse/Monica coupling from packing the engrossing punch McBride has surely intended, despite the obvious chemistry between the two actors.) And while the picture does improve marginally within its comparatively propulsive second half, with the stagnant bent of the movie’s opening stretch replaced by a more urgent atmosphere, Breathless has long-since cemented its place as a forgettable drama that would be hardly worth mentioning were it not for Gere’s striking efforts as the impulsive protagonist.

** out of ****