X
- 2001
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 2 h 3 m
- 2001
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 2 h 3 m
Summary Jerry Welbach (Pitt) is 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 suffer the consequences. The second is from his girlfriend Samantha (Roberts) to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures alive and in...
Directed By: Gore Verbinski
Written By: J.H. Wyman
- 2001
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 2 h 3 m
- 2001
- R
- DreamWorks Distribution
- 2 h 3 m
The Mexican
43
8.4
Where to Watch
Summary Jerry Welbach (Pitt) is 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 suffer the consequences. The second is from his girlfriend Samantha (Roberts) to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures alive and in...
Directed By: Gore Verbinski
Written By: J.H. Wyman
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 35 Critic Reviews
43
29% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
43% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
29% Negative
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 35 Critic Reviews
43
29% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
43% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
29% Negative
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
Gandolfini's fans expect something quirky whenever he shows up, and they'll get what they've bargained for.
Gandolfini comes in from left field and provides a character with dimensions and surprises, bringing out the best in Roberts. Their dialogue scenes are the best reason to see the movie.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 109 User Ratings
8.4
77% Positive
84 Ratings
84 Ratings
17% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
6% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 109 User Ratings
8.4
77% Positive
84 Ratings
84 Ratings
17% Mixed
18 Ratings
18 Ratings
6% Negative
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
This is my all time favorite movie. It's fun, it has a fantastic cast with beautiful characters, and a healthy, enjoyable plot.
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............................................................................................................Great Movie of Gore Verbinski............................
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The movie's biggest strength is a story that refuses to quit and almost makes sense within its own screwball logic.
Flails about desperately for a genre to call home.
Can't lift the double curse of too little genuine action, as opposed to quixotic events, and too many fancy words.
Undisciplined and overstuffed with enough surplus plot twists to make your neck ache, The Mexican affects the tousled look of a self-conscious indie.
I love James Gandolfini and Brad Pitt- together the both shine. The Mexican is a 90's old town "aye-mama!" Mexican type thrillers. It's about a gun that is supposed to be cursed and a family man who thinks this job is his last- may get it. It may sound stupid but its funny, crooked story. Julia Roberts is good at least after her Razzie award career. Gandolfini is the villain in this drama comedy and Pitt is just simple awesome.
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Gore Verbinski has a style of usually conveys the comedy to the audience in a dark manner.Before that I watched a series of Pirates of the Caribbean, rango and the lone ranger.I like it all.
Then I saw the the Mexican and saw that the director was also verbinski,
because it is one of the directors I really care about,also casting crew very good.
I think I was a little bored to admit I was bored some times.Evil or killing people reflected us in a funny style I like about that movie
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This film addresses a theme: couple relationships. The subject is the action base and is present even in the legend around the ill- fated gun which gives its name to the film. Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film revolves around the search for an old pistol, ordered by an American mobster to one of his henchmen. It turns out that the henchmen is going through a crisis in courtship and his girlfriend turns out to follow him to Mexico, along with other potentially interested in obtaining the ancient relic.
The main actors in this movie are Brad Pitt (Jerry on paper), Julia Roberts (as Samantha, Jerry's girlfriend), James Gandolfini (as Winston killer) and Gene Hackman (in the role of Margolese, the big boss). Pitt works well in his role, managing to be very good in action scenes and very funny in the most comic parts. Julia Roberts equals him in humor and his boldness makes an excellent counterpoint to the more timid personality Jerry. Its nice to see that the way Pitt and Roberts counteracted this film, giving greater strength to Their fictional relationship. The sets and costumes were well thought out and make use of an elegant and friendly way, the stereotypes about Mexicans.
Not being a memorable film, it is certainly an interesting movie, good for a leisurely late afternoon. Entertains the audience very well, and that is enough for an openly unpretentious film like this.
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The film has an extremely tedious routine that it begs us to go through. All the amazing fireworks moments are just not amazing enough to distract us.
The Mexican
To call the director Gore Verbenski's "adventurous" film an oddball is.. actually, perfect. You wouldn't get more "out of the box" version of a textbook con-this-con-everything film. The script feels improvised in every sense. The storyline follows a familiar, expected, often dull structure and the elements spiraling out the treats of the film or the originality- if we can call it that- of the film through adding a punchline to that very scene. Every scene, in fact, is staged and written in a form that looks like it is trying to dodge an unmentioned bullet. And that bullet is not shot out from the gun The Mexican but their own version of police from the subconscious department that never allows them to state what is in front of them. The physical sequences along with the verbal too, then goes round and round, making a tomfoolery out of it- that by the way is the joke of it all, especially Brad Pitt's character who as always is amazing in such sketchy roles- rather than confronting its fear. And when it finally accepts what it has to do, that it is time to be itself, completely, naked and upright. Those moments is what you will cherish. Fortunately, Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini have those moments in their pocket. Their eerie bonding and the nature of feeding on each others' incompetence makes this drive safe and fruitful. Gandolfini shines from all corners commanding the screen like never before. You have got to have something special when you come out as the star from a project where Brad and Julia are at the helm of it all.
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'The Mexican': Brad and Julia Misfire!
So Brad and Julia finally coordinated their schedules so they could be in the same movie!
As mere mortals, we can only humbly imagine the awesome alignment of personal managers, agents, casting directors and studio executives (and let's not forget their message-taking, coffee-getting underlings) it must have taken to make this event take place. I mean, people should win Oscars for that stuff, right?
But for now, let me take the time to analyze the movie in which these legends have agreed to appear as characters. This terrible movie in which they have agreed to appear, I should add.
It's called "The Mexican" and features Pitt and Roberts (oh dear, am I listing them in the right order?) as two misfit, offbeat lovers. He's Jerry Welbach, a bagman for a crime syndicate who is trying to get out of the business. She's his girlfriend, Samantha, who's dying to be a Vegas croupier and wants Jerry to quit his dirty work.
Unfortunately, Jerry runs a red light, causing an accident, which indirectly sets into motion a whole series of connected events. His boss is sent to jail, leaving the second-in-command, Bernie (Bob Balaban), to give Jerry an ultimatum: complete one more assignment or get killed.
Jerry goes with the life plan. He agrees to go to Mexico and retrieve a priceless collector's item, an antique pistol known as "the Mexican." This gun has a heartbreaking story behind it, which we learn about over the course of the movie.
Samantha is not happy about this extra mission, and she breaks up with Jerry, whom she considers selfish and incompetent at running his life. She splits for Vegas to realize her gaming dream.
Both run into complications. In Mexico, a freak accident leaves Jerry bearing the blame for a dead man.
This makes his bosses even angrier. En route to Vegas, Samantha runs afoul of two hit men (James Gandolfini and Sherman Augustus), who are battling each other to hold her hostage.
The one who calls himself Leroy (Gandolfini) wins the bloody contest and keeps Samantha prisoner until Jerry brings back that gun. Samantha, who's big on the science of romantic relationships, becomes friendly with her captor. And they bond, despite the situation.
There's much more to this, but I would tax your patience and mental energy to describe it all. On the Mexican side of the border, the movie rolls out the familiar cliches: sullen Mexicans sipping tequila in bars, cars being hijacked under gringos' noses, extended scenes of desolate landscapes, Spaghetti Western guitar licks here and there. You get the idea. Pitt has some very funny moments, but he's the only attraction in a pretty mediocre sojourn in Mexico.
Meanwhile, in the gaming state, it's time for Julia to be Julia, playing cute, crying, smiling, widening her eyes, puffing out that Firestone upper lip and occasionally dipping into that basso profundo voice for comedic effect. It's a familiar routine, which she can do in her sleep; she almost does.
She's not nearly as funny or appealing as Gandolfini, the star of "The Sopranos," a truly funny guy. It's his hangdog, deadpan performance that makes her character look better, which makes his look even better. When Samantha asks Leroy if he's going to kill her, he replies: "Depends on too many variables to answer right now."
Of course, much of the credit for the funny nuggets must go to J.H. Wyman's script, which makes "The Mexican" much more tolerable than it deserves to be. But for the most part, the movie – thanks to the uber-presence of Pitt and Roberts – feels patently inauthentic. For one thing, both stars spend most of the movie apart. Perhaps this is where all those agents and personal managers exercised their "talents," by making sure their clients got to strut their stuff individually, while smaller marquee names provided ego-less backup. The result: At no point do Jerry and Samantha seem romantically connected at all. And what is meant to be the movie's biggest concern – together or not – becomes its smallest.
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Awards
Teen Choice Awards
• 2 Nominations
GLAAD Media Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
L.A. Outfest
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
