author Joseph H. Kupfer identified sibling love, conflict, artistry, and survival among topics the film explores. In a review of the film, Alan Jones of Radio Times described The Fabulous Baker Boys as a "salute to family, romance, friends and disillusionment". According to Pfeiffer, the film is largely about people following their dreams. She identified Susie as an adventurous character who embraces life and is therefore unlikely to "do one thing—including being a singer—for the rest of her life", whereas Jack "thinks when he turns a corner that a bus is going to run over him", serving as his "mirror image". Pfeiffer also identified the character Nina as a clue to Susie's own upbringing. Frank Calvillo of Cinapse wrote that Jack, Susie and Frank "have all been through the [w]ringer of life in one way or another and have the scars to prove it. Yet they each retain a mixture of despair and hope throughout in their own quiet ways." The group's dynamic changes once Susie is introduced and The Fabulous Baker Boys become a trio. According to the film's blurb on the Golden Globe Awards website, "Susie becomes the agent that makes them re-evaluate where they are going, and how honest they have been with each other." Calvillo believes that while Jack and Frank are cynical and optimistic, respectively, Susie is pragmatic. Jack and Frank also have opposing views on their lives, careers, and Susie. Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times wrote that, although Jack and Susie are the film's romantic couple, its true love story is between Jack and Frank. Film Threat said, with Susie, "there's no heart of gold. There's just a heart, one that keeps Jack at highway's length, merely working with him at first, but soon enough the attraction happens, though in an atypical way because these two are atypical. It's not easy and it's not love because this isn't the kind of movie for that." Turner Classic Movie's biography of Beau reported that several critics perceived his performance as "partly autobiographical". Film critic Roger Ebert believes "There's probably some autobiographical truth lurking beneath the rivalry of the Bridges brothers, old wounds from the 20 years they have both been working in the movies." While Macdonald considered Seattle to be as much of a main character as the film's cast, Calvillo argues that the city "could be any cold metropolis, and with the exception of