(rated R, 125 mins)
What a way to head south of the border! Box office heavy weights Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt team in this goofball adventure about Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, who has been given two ultimatums: The first is from his mob boss to travel to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique pistol known as “The Mexican” … or choice two: suffer the consequences. His hot tamale wife Samantha (Roberts) has had enough of his nonsense and lets him head solo to Mexico. It seems simple enough. Even the two day car rental El Camino has the Mexican flavor for Pitt. But when the pistol packing plan goes astray, Samantha back home, heads to Vegas to begin a new life. Except her new life includes a relationship with Leroy (James Gandolfini) a hired watch dog to hold her ransom (or as he puts it “I’m just here to regulate funkiness.) Pitt accurately comes off as an underdog, low key kid caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Comedy does him justice though he’s better at dramatic roles. Roberts carries the chemistry/weight of the two though, yet finds more chemistry with Gandolfini, but not for the reasons you would suspect. Gene Hackman in an unexpected appearance, is sedate and Hackman-cool. This Mexican is quite a pistol of a story but the movie doesn’t bang up the way one would hope. It’s not bad, it’s not good. It’s just neutrally smokin’ for a long 125 minutes that could have been shot (pun intended) in less than two hours. But with Pitt and Roberts on the screen, just how bad can it be.
What a way to head south of the border! Box office heavy weights Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt team in this goofball adventure about Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, who has been given two ultimatums: The first is from his mob boss to travel to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique pistol known as “The Mexican” … or choice two: suffer the consequences. His hot tamale wife Samantha (Roberts) has had enough of his nonsense and lets him head solo to Mexico. It seems simple enough. Even the two day car rental El Camino has the Mexican flavor for Pitt. But when the pistol packing plan goes astray, Samantha back home, heads to Vegas to begin a new life. Except her new life includes a relationship with Leroy (James Gandolfini) a hired watch dog to hold her ransom (or as he puts it “I’m just here to regulate funkiness.) Pitt accurately comes off as an underdog, low key kid caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Comedy does him justice though he’s better at dramatic roles. Roberts carries the chemistry/weight of the two though, yet finds more chemistry with Gandolfini, but not for the reasons you would suspect. Gene Hackman in an unexpected appearance, is sedate and Hackman-cool. This Mexican is quite a pistol of a story but the movie doesn’t bang up the way one would hope. It’s not bad, it’s not good. It’s just neutrally smokin’ for a long 125 minutes that could have been shot (pun intended) in less than two hours. But with Pitt and Roberts on the screen, just how bad can it be.