<P> Although the setting for the film is a fictional route between Arkansas and the Grand Canyon, the movie was filmed almost entirely in the states of California and Utah . The primary filming locations for the movie are rural areas around Bakersfield, California and Moab, Utah . The Grand Canyon scenes were actually filmed just south of Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah . </P> <P> The film was an overwhelming critical success . Metacritic lists a composite critical score of 88 out of 100 . Rotten Tomatoes rates Thelma & Louise 83% "Fresh". Janet Maslin of The New York Times had only praise for the film in her review: "Mr. Scott's Thelma and Louise, with a sparkling screenplay by the first - time writer Callie Khouri, is a surprise on this and many other scores . It reveals the previously untapped talent of Mr. Scott (best known for majestically moody action films like Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain) for exuberant comedy, and for vibrant American imagery, notwithstanding his English roots . It reimagines the buddy film with such freshness and vigor that the genre seems positively new . It discovers unexpected resources in both its stars, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who are perfectly teamed as the spirited and original title characters ." Roger Ebert also praised the film, but withheld a perfect score on the basis of "the last shot before the titles begin . It's a freeze frame that fades to white, which is fine, except it does so with unseemly haste...It's unsettling to get involved in a movie that takes 128 minutes to bring you to a payoff that the filmmakers seem to fear ." </P> <P> The film was screened out of competition at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival . After watching the film, singer - songwriter Tori Amos wrote "Me and a Gun", the story of her rape six years earlier, which she had told only a few people about before watching this film . Affected by a scene in the movie, Amos began sobbing publicly in a crowded movie theater and writing the lyrics to the song in her head . </P> <P> Argentinian singer and musician Fito Páez wrote a hit song called "Dos días en la vida" ("Two days in one lifetime") after watching this movie . The lyrics tell the story of the main characters, with verses played by singers Fabiana Cantilo (in the role of Thelma) and Celeste Carballo (Louise). It was one of the most successful singles from his 1992 album El amor después del amor . </P>

Picture of thelma and louise driving off cliff