Not much spice in 'The Mexican'

By Joko E.H. Anwar

The Mexican (**1/2 out of ****); (Drama/Thriller/Comedy, 123 minutes); Starring Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Bob Balaban, J.K. Simmons.; Directed by Gore Verbinski; A DreamWorks SKG presentation

JAKARTA (JP): Perhaps it is a dream pairing for so many moviegoers: American sweetheart Julia Roberts and Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt cast as two lovers.

But be forewarned that The Mexican is not a great movie and will not meet your expectations of the two megastars.

Do not expect the screen to sizzle as when Jennifer Lopez meets George Clooney in Out of Sight, since there is a smidgen of chemistry between Roberts and Pitt here. In fact, the two sex symbols are better when they are apart than together.

However, the film is not a complete failure. It is reasonably enjoyable, and the stars lend a great deal of their charm to make the film accessible.

It is a mixed bag of romance, comedy, drama, action and misadventure which often works, and there is the redeeming presence of James Gandolfini in a supporting role.

Samantha (Roberts) plans to start a new life by moving to Las Vegas with her boyfriend Jerry (Pitt) to be a waitress.

It's too bad that despite Jerry's commitment to leave the criminal world, his mob boss Nayman (Balaban) asks him to do one last assignment: to fly to Mexico to retrieve an antique gun called the Mexican for their big boss named Margoles.

Disappointed, Samantha does not want to hear Jerry's excuses and decides to break up with him to go to Vegas on her own.

We do not know why the mob boss wants Jerry, resembling one of those inept criminals in Snatch in which Pitt also costarred, to do such an important assignment. He once accidentally crashed his car into Margoles' sedan which put the powerful crime lord in prison after police found someone stashed in the trunk.

We know what follows in Mexico. He finds the gun, along with Margoles' grandson who is holding the weapon but does not want to hand it over to his grandfather. But he soon loses the gun, and then the grandson dies in a freak accident.

Penniless, he has to ride a donkey and hitchhike to go after the gun.

Somewhere along the pursuit, he learns that the gun has a dark history and has been cursed. The beautifully handcrafted pistol made during the days of the Old West will bring nothing but trouble to whomever touches it.

Meanwhile, mob boss Nayman thinks that Jerry has crossed him and keeps the highly valuable gun for himself since he has not heard from him for quite a while.

Nayman sends a psychopathic hitman named Leroy (Gandolfini) to kidnap Samantha and use her as a hostage.

Jerry must find the gun soon or Samantha will end up dead. Meanwhile, Samantha begins to have a platonic relationship with the sensitive hitman. Samantha is genuinely sympathetic toward Leroy, a repressed homosexual, and willing to help him in dealing with his sexuality.

Thinking that things are not going as planned, Nayman himself goes to Mexico to set things right.

While Roberts and Pitt get to shout at each other when they share a scene (or even when on the phone), Roberts does develop a chemistry with fabulous player Gandolfini, known for his gangster roles, such as True Romance and now with TV's landmark show The Sopranos which has kept charming television audiences in the U.S. (Hopefully we will be able to see the series here someday).

In fact, The Mexican belongs to him. Instead of playing a hitman whose sexual orientation is, according to Roberts' character, unsuitable for his profession, he lends a perfect subtlety to the role and injects a level of realism to the often comic film.

Roberts contribution to the film is by turning an often grumpy woman into a lovable character. But there is no question about Roberts' capacity to do that, right?

The drama comes from the interaction between the kidnap victim and her kidnapper. A woman who has a serious relationship problem with her boyfriend ends up counseling a professional hitman on relationships.

The script, written by J.H. Wyman, fails to give us reasons why Samantha and Jerry, despite their never agreeing on anything, are meant to be together.

Pitt's character is only portrayed as a hard-luck, sometimes goofy criminal without giving us something to root for.

The film also fails to make the pistol the center of the film despite its title.

The gun's history, which is told in sepia tones, is not likely to have a mystical, haunting effect on the audience (do not expect those hair-raising, myth-establishing scenes as in The Usual Suspects).

The only thing which sets the mood is Alan Silvestri's score which recreates the atmosphere of earlier "spaghetti" westerns.

Overall, the film provides a relatively enjoyable trip if you can forget many of its shortcomings. But this is definitely not a perfect date movie.