When you put Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini in a movie together, you are bound to produce a pretty enjoyable flick. “The Mexican” is exactly that: A fun comedy with a little bit of everything in it.
- Paul Wong
- Brad and Julia go through separate thrill rides in “”The Mexican””Brad and Julia go through separate thrill rides in “”The Mexican.””<br><br>Courtesy of Dreamwork Pictures
Although the previews to this movie play up the romance between Julia and Brad, the two do not actually have that much screen time together. This may disappoint some but it does give each of the actors their moment in the spotlight and makes the time when they are together all the more worthwhile.
Julia and Brad have wonderful chemistry together. Even though a great deal of their time together is spent bantering (not fighting, mind you) back and forth, you never doubt that the two truly care for one another.
There is a wonderful fight scene between their two characters at the start of the movie. In a “Romeo and Juliet”-style balcony scene, we see Julia throwing out Pitt”s clothing as he tries to calm her down. He uses pet names like “sweetie” and “baby” while she uses psychobabble she has picked up from their group therapy.
After a certain amount of escalation has occurred, Julia issues a “timeout” something they have obviously picked up from their therapy together. Although Pitt wants to talk and is clearly frustrated by her command of silence, he obliges and waits. This is a perfect example of how the two interact. At times they sound as though they simply argue all the time, but deep down they have nothing but love and respect for one another.
The basic premise of the movie revolves around an infamous gun they call “The Mexican.” James (Pitt) is sent down to Mexico to pick up the gun and deliver it back to his boss. Simple enough for most people but James does not seem to have luck on his side. His whole life appears to be one mishap after another and this does not stop once he crosses the border.
Sam (Roberts) is upset with James for not getting out of his job in order to accompany her to Las Vegas. The two part ways. As Sam heads to Las Vegas in her lime-green Beetle, she is kidnapped by Leroy (Gandolfini), a sympathetic killer who is sent to ensure that all goes well with James and the transport of the gun.
What follows is a wonderful mixture of comedy, adventure, and romance. In a movie such as this, it is easy to fall into that trap where there is simply too much going on so you never get to connect with any of the major players. This is not true of “The Mexican.” Each of the characters is given enough development so you really get to feel involved with the plot of the movie.
“The Mexican” brings us back to the adventure movies of yesteryear. However, as with most adventure movies, there are tons of twists and turns and major plot developments and “The Mexican” seemed to almost cram too much of this into the movie. At times it was more than a little confusing to discern what was going on.
If you try to break “The Mexican” up into pieces it all fits together to form a very good picture, but looking back there was one element that seemed to be lacking. Part of it might have been the background story of the gun, which did not really hold a lot of interest for me. The story itself turns out to be a good one but I personally did not connect to it. Being that the entire movie revolves around the story of the gun made it somewhat difficult to truly get into.
In the end though, “The Mexican” doesn”t take itself too seriously and neither should the viewer. It”s a fun ride with plenty of twists for everyone. And once again, how can you go wrong combining America”s sweetheart and one of the sexiest men alive?