More of a Roberts/Gandolfini buddy picture, than a Roberts/Pitt romantic comedy. *** SPOILER ALERT!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!! *** *** EVERYBODY LOCK YOUR DOORS!!!!! ***
When it comes to movies, I seem to be an atypical guy. Most guys I know cringe at the thought of seeing a romantic comedy, "chick flicks" they call them, yet I embrace them.
Movies are just stories acted out and put on film. The way I see it, if the plot is solid, and the actors give good performances, I'll get sucked in no matter whether it's a rip roarin' adventure, a political thriller, a slapstick comedy, a scary slasher film, or a "chick flick". So, I went into "The Mexican" looking to be entertained. I wasn't.
The plot follows Brad Pitt on a job from the mob to steal a legendary antique gun, known as "The Mexican" from... well... Mexico! This is supposedly Pitt's last job, a fact that Julia Roberts (as Pitt's girlfriend) doesn't care to accept. She drives off in a huff to Las Vegas, where she is kidnapped by James Gandolfini, to be used as "insurance" that Pitt will indeed complete the task at hand.
Okay... the good things. The three principle leads... Roberts, Pitt, and Gandolfini, all play their individual roles well. When Roberts and Gandolfini are in the same scenes, they exude a magnetism that is fun to watch. (Especially when it is revealed that James is homosexual!) Pitt plays a likeable, bumbling criminal, and you really do root for him to complete his task.
The scenery is wonderful, and offers intriguing locals such as a barely lit tunnel through a hill, and various small Mexican towns with very narrow streets.
The little mini-movies that show the legend of the gun are interesting, and are filmed to give them an "artificially aged" looked.
The legend itself was nicely wrapped up in the end, and gave a satisfying feeling of closure.
Now, the bad things...
The movie is marketed as a romantic comedy between Roberts and Pitt. Yet, there are few scenes with both of them together, and when they do play off each other, they bicker and yell and fuss and whine. I don't go to a movie to see that. I've broken up with past girlfriends because we interacted in the same annoying fashion. I sure as hell don't want to spend $8 to see bickering on the big screen!
There is excellent chemistry between Roberts and Gandolfini, which is unlikely for one main reason. He was sent to kidnap her and use her as "insurance". He even hints that should Pitt not complete his task, he may be forced to kill her. SO WHY DOES HE BEFRIEND HER SO QUICKLY??? OR AT ALL????? I know nothing about criminals, but it seems to me that if you are sent to kidnap somebody, you should NOT get emotionally involved with them. You should act as imposing and threatening to them as humanly possibly, so they will discover NO weaknesses of yours, lest they try to get the best of you. Yet, Gandolfini not only befriends Roberts, he confesses to her that he is homosexual, and then has a special night with a postal worker he picks up in a diner! HUH???? WHA?!?!?!?
Too many peripheral characters (and a few supporting roles as well) seem to switch sides too often. I'm all for a twist or surprise ending, but when characters go from being bad to good, to not who you thought they were, to bad to good again, it'll make your head spin.
And one thing that made me want to scream at the screen (except I was in a theater with my wife, and that would've been embarrassing...) was the scene where Roberts is in a Mexican hotel room, and a criminal (or maybe he was a good guy, I don't recall) rushes in, and ransacks the room looking for the gun. He pulls open dresser drawers, flings clothes out of suitcases, overturns trash cans, and then splits. The camera then shows us that Roberts was hiding (with gun strapped to her thigh) IN BETWEEN THE TWO MATTRESSES on the bed!!!!! Okay, I know Julia is slim, but FOR GOD'S SAKE, wouldn't the criminal see that the mattresses weren't laying flat???? Plus, if you are going to ransack a room, and you are looking for something very important, wouldn't you grab the mattresses and toss them to the side???? Under the mattress is one of the most common hiding places in the world! Whether it's extra cash, porno, or your stash, EVERYBODY hides stuff under the mattress. That this criminal was unaware of this, completely frustrated me.
So, in closing, I think that Pitt and Roberts would make a good romantic team, if only they'd (a) spend more than 10% of the movie together, (b) they'd respectfully interact with one another... no more whining!!!, and (c) if it didn't have an madcap adventure caper to back it up.
Thank you. :^)