`The Mexican's' star power doesn't fulfill its potential
By GUNDER KEHOE
Scene Movie Critic
With "The Mexican," Hollywood came close to making something memorable and different but, like Brad Pitt's character, they took a few wrong turns and ended up stranded on a desert wasteland, choking on dust.
The film, starring Pitt and Julia Roberts, leaves the viewer thinking about roads not taken: If only DreamWorks had trusted their offbeat idea and not had their director, Gore Verbinski, polish the edges off something so rugged. While "The Mexican" might suffer from a case of failed potential, there's still value in its original concept, which juggles separate storylines and wavering tones.
Pitt plays Jerry, a loveable klutz, who's gotten mixed-up with a gangster. Jerry's last job is to head for the borders of Mexico and retrieve a valuable pistol, aptly named The Mexican. Unfortunately, Jerry has his own problems, namely a girlfriend with the unpleasant demeanor of a palm-sized dog. Julia Roberts plays this girlfriend, Samantha, and despite the importance of Jerry's mission, she wants him to nix his trip and move to Vegas with her. Considering Jerry's trip is do or die, Samantha has no reason to complain. But when Jerry leaves, she flips out anyway and each party heads down their own separate road: Jerry to the Mexican desert and Sam to the Las Vegas strip.
The ancient pistol is like a bar of wet soap, constantly slipping through Jerry's fingertips. He stumbles through heat and dust, meeting trigger-happy locals and corrupt lawmen, all the while searching for a pistol.
Meanwhile, back in Vegas, Samantha is kidnapped by a rival hitman who thinks she knows the pistol's whereabouts. Even though both lovebirds are in different nations, their dilemmas turn out the same and, while they've fought like alley cats, Jerry and Sam still dream of being each other's arms.
The makers of "The Mexican" did their best to keep Jerry and Sam's separate journeys under lock and key. Even though the movie's poster contains a romantic image of Pitt and Roberts nearing a loveable embrace, the two actors barely share the screen. When they do, the romantic sparks are overshadowed by Sam's constant bickering, frustrating the audience as much as it does Jerry.
Roberts does, however, generate some splendid chemistry with her kidnapper, played by James Gandolfini. Gandolfini's hitman subverts the norm in a "Pulp-Fiction"-esque rendition of a killer with a conscience.
The strength of "The Mexican" is its ability to balance characters and their many personalities. Gandolfini's hitman vacillates between the light-hearted commentary on the nature of love and the cold-hearted ability to riddle men with bullets. This blend of tones keeps the audience on edge and some of the violence drifts into the exciting realm of dark humor.
The screenplay by J.H. Wyman deserves a lot of credit because he takes the typical scenario of impossible love and sends it to Mexico. Besides the exotic locale, Wyman writes witty dialogue and keeps the audience guessing, constantly switching between humor and bloodshed.
Instead of rehashing the typical plot, Wyman keeps the lovers apart and spins the movie around an ancient pistol. The story of the gun is a tale in its own right and the filmmakers use segments of grainy footage to unfold its past.
Between the two storylines, Jerry's rendezvous in Mexico is more entertaining simply because Pitt can blend rugged masculinity and bumbling charm. Indeed, Jerry's struggle with a rabid dog and his stolen "camino" has more appeal than watching Roberts kick and scream.
The film would've been better had a lesser-known actress replaced Roberts because, somehow, a film can't star Julia Roberts and still feel offbeat. Even though Pitt is a true movie star, unlike Roberts, he has the unique ability to be edgy and accessible.
The real fault with the picture is that it fell into the wrong hands. Gore Verbinski might be a whiz with television ads, but there's not much crossover between selling a copy-machine and bringing an elusive concept into the mainstream.
"The Mexican's" potential was endless as its screenplay is home to ideas and images galore. Verbinski filters it through his eyes, but his final product is too cartoon-ish. And it doesn't help that the carnival-esque score sounds like a broken harmonica
All in all, "The Mexican" is worth a look because it still eludes categories — there's a romance but it's not a romantic comedy. The tones range from fluffy humor to sadistic cruelty. It was rather amusing seeing older audience members looking innocently at the screen, expecting lively fair from beautiful movie stars. Their look of whimsy abruptly switched to horror as characters repeatedly took bullets in the face.
Not that violence is necessarily amusing but it's always fun to see expectations thrown into a glass and mixed like a good martini.
--three out of five shamrocks
All Scene Stories for Monday, March 19, 2001
