Borderline Adventure

He Said
A movie that features one $20 million paycheck actor will always make a lot of money. What about when it features two? Even if the acting isn't great and the story isn't extraordinary, it will still make money. "The Mexican" features all of these things with high-billed stars, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt (who both, incidentally, took pay cuts to act in this movie), and a good, but not great, script. Jerry Welbach (Pitt) and Samantha Barzel (Roberts) play a couple Samantha says, "loves each other too much that they can't get it together." The pair is only onscreen together for about a half hour before they break up. The split occurs when Jerry goes to Mexico to do one last job to pay off his debt to a mob boss. When Roberts and Pitt are on screen together, the chemistry is great, but the acting is better when they are apart. It's a hard task to put two great actors together and see a great performance from both, so the filmmakers separated them for most of the movie. Roberts is as adorable as ever, and Pitt plays his attractive self -- so the movie is great for both sexes. But the movie is not just about pretty faces, especially Pitt, who is an outstanding actor. These are definitely not Pitt's and Roberts' best performances, but topping their previous performances would be nearly impossible. They play their roles perfectly as the bumbling idiot Jerry and the neurotic "queen of the idiot" Sam. Jerry's final job is to retrieve a pistol named The Mexican from Mexico. After retrieving the pistol, it is stolen, and crazy scenarios ensue. The mob thinks Jerry stole the gun for his own profit, so it sends a hit man, Leroy (James Gandolfini), to kidnap Samantha. The scenes with Roberts and Gandolfini are the best scenes in the movie. Gandolfini is a great hit man, not a stretch from his parts in "The Sopranos" and "True Romance," which have perfected his role as the Italian gangster. In "The Mexican" he plays a more sensitive and diverse hit man. The conversations between his character and Sam make the movie hilarious, especially their fabulous discussion on his private life. These scenes, along with flashbacks with the cursed pistol, make this movie more of a comedy. The flashbacks, done in silent spaghetti western fashion, make the most enjoyable moments in the movie. The movie is worth seeing because so rarely does a movie come out with such high-quality talent. The story is filled with jokes, love and a touch of dramatics. It won't win any awards, but the studio did not make "The Mexican" for award status. It made it to make money, and it will do just that.
She Said
How is it possible for a film packed with cliches, which perpetuates every Mexican stereotype known to man, which contains obvious editing mistakes and some serious overacting to be even worth watching? I don't know either, but that's what happened in "The Mexican." Gore Verbinski's latest film is a paradox. While Julia Roberts could have pulled a muscle from overacting, Brad Pitt seems to be playing himself. While most of the movie is predictable and horribly cliched, it also contains an intricate plot with a number of bizarre twists and turns. Although the entire movie is so reminiscent of the action-comedy genre (a la "Die Hard"), much of the dialogue smacks of sappy pseudopoetry (or psychobabble, whichever you prefer). Even more astounding is this film about the beauty, history and legend of a gun was even made in our politically correct society. The film rests on the history of a gun called The Mexican that has a rich and romantic legend. Pitt's character Jerry Welbach must go through many dangerous situations to retrieve this historical artifact for his boss, Margolese (Gene Hackman), a crime boss to whom Jerry owes a favor. While Jerry is busy gallivanting around Mexico for this pistol, Margolese has his girlfriend Samantha (Roberts) kidnapped to ensure Jerry's cooperation. Sam develops a rapport with her kidnapper, Leroy (James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos"), making for a ridiculously funny situation. In fact, much of the film is so absurd you have to laugh. Because Pitt's and Roberts' characters are apart for most of the film, the onscreen chemistry audiences were probably expecting doesn't really happen. Instead, they fight most of the time, and rather than being exceptionally passionate and having steamy sex scenes, they're just sweet when they're together. Which, I suppose, is what makes the whole thing a lot more realistic. "The Mexican" is an unusual film -- violent, funny, dramatic, cheesy, absurd, romantic, realistic, suspenseful, sweet and complicated -- but most of all the word to describe it is silly. It's worth seeing, but it won't make any Oscar categories in 2002.