Review – The Mexican

I was pleasantly surprised by this picture. Usually when Hollywood packs this level of star power (Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and that’s just to start) into a quirky little caper movie like this, the producers make up for overspending on actors by under-spending on script. Oddly enough, the script here is probably the high point of the movie. The dialogue is clever, the story (the tale of a hapless petty criminal who must retrieve a priceless antique pistol from Mexico for his mobster boss) flows fairly evenly, and the running gags keep running throughout. I was particularly tickled by the recurring presence of a vicious dog with a deflated football for a chew-toy. Even the romance between the leads almost works. There aren’t a lot of knee-slapping funny spots, but it maintains a nice, even tone of clever, offbeat humor from beginning to end. Mildly amusing