Review of The Mexican (2001) by Harry W — 27 May 2014

I did not know what to expect from The Mexican, but a duo like Brad Pitt and Julia Robrets sounded interesting enough to check out.

The Mexican is very misleading because the cover of the film suggests that it is a romantic comedy which is focused on a relationship between characters played by Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. But one of the most common criticisms of the film is the fact that the two of them do not share enough screen time. The handful of screen time they share reveals the fact that they do enjoy acting with each other and can establish a good chemistry. But in no time their characters go off in different directions and the film splits its potential down the middle, dividing it into two stories which run simultaneously.

Most of Brad Pitt's screen time follows a lame crime comedy theme about him attempting to search for a weapon in a story that is obviously supposed to be a mix of western, road movie and comedy. But it isn't funny, it isn't interesting and above all it isn't entertaining. It just deviates very far from the idea of being a romantic comedy so much that it essentially forgets that it is supposed to be one in parts. Brad Pitt is a capable foil and he works with the material just fine, but his material does not live up to the credibility of his acting talent and ends up just wasting his time and ours. It's not his fault, it's the fault of J.H. Wyman for being unable to actually craft a good script which leaves everybody to ponder around wondering what the point of everything actually is, without having enough crime or comedy for it to feel like anything more than a spoof movie attempting to take itself seriously. And this novelty wears off really fast, although it is the only thing that's any fast in the excessively long and slow spectacle that The Mexican actually is.

But what's worse is Julia Roberts' story. Her story is mostly about her journeying on the road with a man whom she makes rape jokes with and flirts with, spending most of the time b*tching about her ex-boyfriend. Julia Roberts is a good actress,, but in The Mexican she gets annoying pretty fast because her script lines are so damned repetitive and give her nothing to work with. Her character requires for her to be going in circles and saying the same basic things again and again. There ends up being no more comic value in this than there was in Brad Pitt's story. Frankly, there is nothing interesting in terms of storytelling in The Mexican except for people who genuinely hate western movies and want to see just how sloppily they can be made when given a misguided story and lacklustre direction as well as a distinct lack of humour.

Gore Verbinski cannot save The Mexican, and the only thing that he contributes to the film is its visual style. While Gore Verbinksi does manage to make The Mexican look good by implementing in a lot of nice scenery as well as capturing it with a lot of different cinematography techniques, he doesn't do anything to save the story from falling into the unfunny territory that it has been written to the limits to. The problem is that a lot of the time I can't even tell if things in the movie are supposed to be funny. At times I can tell that they're trying to make jokes but I never laughed, but more of the time I kept asking "where are the jokes?" because despite the light nature of The Mexican, I could not find all that many joke sin there. The Mexican is either bereft of humour or simply bereft of good jokes in general, but either way it is poor form and hardly entertaining.

The Mexican is simply nothing. It wants to be a romantic comedy, a crime comedy and a western comedy but it constantly jumps back and fourth between all the genres with a scattered story and a distinct lack of fun. There isn't anything to take in from The Mexican and there is very little to enjoy, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except for the fans of the most generic Julia Roberts comedies or the biggest fans of Brad Pitt.

The performances of the lead two actors are the only reasons that the film is any good.

Brad Pitt deserves a lot better than the material he gets in The Mexican, but his natural comedic charisma proves to be energetic. I haven't seen him in much comedy material before, but in The Mexican he actually takes the opportunity seriously and breathes a lot of comedic life into his part. If anybody was going to laugh at The Mexican, it is less likely to be for the quality of the material and more likely due to the fact that Brad Pitt himself is in the role. Brad Pitt's natural energy makes The Mexican more appealing, and his chemistry with the other actors is terrific so it works as a front for his talents if nothing else.

Julia Roberts is also a capable foil. Although the character that she is stuck with proves to be a very repetitive one, she lets her natural energy take over and does what she does best in a romantic comedy. Eventually she grows likable, and her line delivery is energetic. Depending on how much you like Julia Roberts, The Mexican could be the film for you. And although I couldn't handle the lacklustre script and what little attempts at humour there was, I was able to get a kick out of Julia Roberts' effort in the lead role in The Mexican. She is a genial presence.

But despite the comedic efforts of the two lead actors, they receive too little screen time together and material that is excessively weak against an overly long and slow paced comedy which is bereft of originality or laughs.