A lot of people don't like The Mexican, but I thought it was okay. Maybe people went to it thinking it would be a standard Hollywood romantic comedy. After all, it stars Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. And look at that poster. Love and laughter all the way, right?Wrong. This is an odd, quirky movie, and not everything is as it seems.
Pitt and Roberts play Jerry and Samantha, a couple constantly at odds with one another, and now something has come up that's really going to split them up. Jerry is sort of responsible for a criminal (Gene Hackman) being in prison, so to keep Hackman from having him killed, Jerry has to run an occasional errand for him. This time (the last little job, supposedly) Jerry has to go to Mexico, pick up a rare and valuable gun called The Mexican. (There are a number of flashback scenes that purport to show the origins of The Mexican, but they all tell different and contradictory stories.) Jerry's supposed to bring the gun back to the U.S. for Hackman. A simple job, right? Wrong again.
Jerry's promised Sam he'll take her to Las Vegas, and when he tells her he has to get the gun, she blows up, throws him out of their apartment, and throws his clothes after him. He explains that getting The Mexican is a matter of life and death. Literally. She doesn't care. He promised her Las Vegas, and she's going with him or without him.
After that, things get complicated. Jerry's not the only one after The Mexican, and getting it, which seemed simple, turns out not to be simple at all, thanks to the others who want it and to plain old bad luck, of which Jerry has a copious amount. For those expecting comedy, there is some. There's also a lot of violence and killing. And meanwhile Sam's been kidnapped by Leroy (James Gandolfini), a hitman who's one of the more complicated characters in the movie and well worth watching. The whole cast is excellent, but Gandolfini steals a lot of scenes.
The Mexican is definitely not a standard romcom. It's offbeat and different. I'd recommend it, but you need to know what you're in for.
2 comments:
I'd let the packaging put me off, to say nothing of the track records of the leads (not good...I'd certainly not forgiven Pitt for doing his best to run 12 MONKEYS). I shall have to consider it at next opportunity.
Among the Julia Roberts so-so items I'd seen (as opposed to utter tripe such as NOTtING HILL) was in fact FLATLINERS. Page won't be able to do much to improve that without a wildly better script (not tough).
The best thing about The Mexican is that it's now what you're expecting. Watch the trailer. That gives you a small idea.
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