No formula seems to be as reliable as the “lovers on the run” genre. After all, Bonnie And Clyde, while not necessarily the first in the genre, managed to revolutionize the film industry, helping usher in the age of New Hollywood. Its influence is felt to this day, not just in terms of how it changed the way a lot of filmmakers chose to tell certain types of stories, opening themselves up to material that was previously deemed taboo, but also in various films that have used the general formula to comment on the zeitgeist and/or allow filmmakers to indulge themselves.
The tradition continues with Infamous, which comes courtesy of writer/director, Joshua Caldwell. It follows Arielle (Bella Thorne), a young woman who is sick of being stuck in a dead end, white trash town in – you guessed it, Florida – working a thankless job, living with a not-so-caring mom who is dating a scumbag, and on top of all that, getting annoyed by people pronouncing her name like the Disney princess. It’s “Ari” like Ariana, get it right, or she’ll get really mad! She wants nothing more than to get out of town, and become famous. And things seem to change once she meets a boy named Dean (Jake Manley).
Dean is living with his abusive father while out on parole, and one night after Arielle runs away from home, she finds Dean being beaten by his dad. One thing leads to another, the dad takes a tumble down the stairs, and dies. Scared and desperate, the two decide to run away, and having no money with them, they rob a convenience store, which Arielle films, and uploads online. The video results in numerous followers, which offers them a sense of purpose and hope they haven’t experienced before, so they take advantage of their growing, newfound fame, continuing their crime spree.
If recording your crimes seems incredibly ill-advised to you, well…yeah, you’re right. Dean was never fully on board with the whole thing as Arielle takes charge in not only pushing the social media aspect, but pushing them deeper into dangerous territory as she kills a cop during a traffic stop. It’s basically a series of terrible decisions, but it’s all decisions that are sadly not as far fetched as you might think it is, especially as influencer culture gains more traction and legitimacy in the mainstream.
It’s a subject that’s been explored before in films like Nerve, Ingrid Goes West, The Circle, and numerous others, with varying degrees of effectiveness – mostly being not so well, if you ask me. Infamous itself doesn’t seem to comment much on the nature of social media. There’s a sequence where the two hide out in the apartment of a follower played by Amber Riley, who talks about how she finds their antics empowering and exciting, but it doesn’t add up to much aside from the very general notion that the internet can sometimes fester in and encourage toxicity, which is hardly the greatest revelation ever.
What does keep things relatively compelling is the dynamic between Arielle and Dean. Unlike a typical Bonnie and Clyde scenario, these two are almost constantly in disagreement over things. It’s a more complicated relationship that would border on being one-sided if not for the occasional moment where they actually show some fondness for one another. It’s more Arielle’s film than Dean’s, and that’s by design. It’s all about her desire to have a legacy, to be cared for, to be recognized. Thorne sells the character really well, and she has solid enough chemistry with Manley.
Infamous has enough thrills and style to make for a modestly compelling, if somewhat slight, ride. The cinematography from Eve Cohen gives the film a vibrant, evocative look that brings a sense of scale and ambition to a story that otherwise feels a bit small. There’s even a neat tracking shot where the camera is kept in the backseat of a car during a police chase. The soundtrack, which largely consists of synth pop tracks, adds to the dream-like mood of the whole thing – I doubt it’s a coincidence that the film stopped to show Arielle getting her head hit twice before the couple go on the run. There are elements here that I liked, and Thorne can play a role like this in her sleep, but I just wished the film had more meat on its bones. At best, it’s a minor but watchable distraction that will be forgotten like most who get their fifteen minutes of fame.