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"The Mexican" stars Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts and involves a quirky, offbeat relationship--but it's not between Brad and Julia, it's between Julia and James Gandolfini . I like it that way. Considering how badly Jerry and Samantha--the Brad and Julia characters--get along when they're together, a whole movie involving them would be a long, shrill slog. 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.

The setup: "The Mexican" of the title is a priceless handgun that a Mafioso named Margolese ( Gene Hackman ) desires above all else. Margolese is in prison for complicated reasons, and Jerry, who was sort of responsible, has been trying to work off his debt (and stay alive) by running errands for Margolese's lieutenant Nayman ( Bob Balaban ). But Jerry is unreliable because he's under the thumb of the demanding Samantha. His excuse for blowing an important assignment: "When you told me to pick up the thing at the thing, well, Samantha, she wanted the car to pick up some things." Jerry gets one more chance: go to Mexico, meet a man in a bar, pick up the handgun and bring it back to the States. Samantha blows her top: Jerry promised to take her to Las Vegas. Jerry explains that if he does not do the errand, he will be killed. Samantha is unmoved and throws his clothes out the window. Jerry leaves for Mexico. Samantha says she will never speak to him again. She leaves for Vegas, and is kidnapped by Leroy, the Gandolfini character.

That means Jerry and Samantha spend most of the movie apart, and that has drawn complaints from critics who would have preferred these two megastars share lots of screen time. But Roberts, curiously, hardly ever makes love stories involving people her age. Maybe she has so much wattage all by herself that pairing her with an equivalent dude would blow the fuses. Most of her movies involve older men ( Richard Gere in " Pretty Woman "), or unavailable men (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in " Mary Reilly "), or unacceptable men (" Runaway Bride "), or make her the heroine of stories with less significant men (" Erin Brockovich ," " Notting Hill "). She hardly ever goes knee to knee with a guy she's in love with.

Here Gandolfini (from "The Sopranos") comes in as Leroy, a big bruiser who kidnaps her for reasons that start out simple and grow increasingly complicated as the plot unfolds. They're both talkers, and soon they're bathing each other in confessions and insights. She talks a lot about Jerry, who is guilty of "blame-shifting," etc., and he nods in sympathy and offers advice at least as sound as she could find in a women's magazine. Then, while they're sitting in a diner, he exchanges a look with a guy sitting at the counter, and she says, "You had a moment there. What was that about?" And then their psychobabble moves into sublime territory.

These scenes make the movie special. The screenplay, by J.H. Wyman, could have easily been one of those dreary road stories where the guy and the girl head south together on a rendezvous with steamy love scenes and lots of bloody chases. Instead, this movie is about something. Not something terrifically profound, to be sure, but at least it prefers style and wit to tired old ideas.

Wyman and the director, Gore Verbinski , intercut the story with various versions of the legend of "The Mexican." The movie goes to sepia tone as we learn why the handgun is so valued and legendary. None of these legends agree, which is part of the fun, and meanwhile, the real Mexicans in the movie run rings around Jerry, a character so brain-swoggled by Samantha that he can think of little else.

There are lots of things I like in "The Mexican": Jerry's idiotic attempts to change English into Spanish by adding an "o" to the end of every word. And the way a supporting character keeps explaining "I'm just trying to do my portion." And the way Samantha zeroes in on Leroy and sees right through his defenses. And the way the movie is amused by its plot, and keeps a wry distance from it, instead of breathlessly chasing it around the screen.

Pitt and Roberts are good, too--maybe better like this than if they were together. I don't see what purpose it serves to complain they don't have every scene together. Usually when $20 million stars are put into movies, we have to look at them every second so the producers can be sure they're getting their money's worth. "The Mexican" is more like a 1940s Warner Bros. picture where the stars get a breather while the supporting actors entertain us. If it had been a Pitt-Roberts two-hander, there wouldn't have been room for Gandolfini's wonderful character, and that would have been a shame.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Mexican (2001)

Rated R For Violence and Language

123 minutes

Brad Pitt as Jerry

Julia Roberts as Samantha

James Gandolfini as Leroy

Bob Balaban as Nayman

Directed by

• Gore Verbinski

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The Mexican Reviews

There is a lot of fun to be had with this film, despite it’s relatively uneven nature.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 27, 2024

As a dark comedy it has a somewhat appealing visual style, but its journey across the Mexican wasteland becomes downright dull and it falls to the ground like a stray bullet. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | May 10, 2023

Gene Hackman holds the responsibility of conveying the entire history of a character, the entire core of who this man is, in a single scene. He manages it without breaking a sweat.

Full Review | Original Score: 6.5/10 | Sep 22, 2022

The Mexican of the title is actually a gun, not a person, which seems as instructive as any other detail of what might be wrong with not only this film but with the whole Hollywood project.

Full Review | Feb 25, 2020

The Mexican is sporadically entertaining. It works when Gandolfini is on screen; when he leaves, he takes the movie with him.

Full Review | Oct 25, 2018

Brad and Julia, of course, look great. Buy the poster; skip the movie.

Full Review | Mar 6, 2018

From the word go, the film is almost begging to be hailed as 'quirky' and 'offbeat'. It's ironic, but only in a gentle way that hovers between laidback and imperceptible.

Full Review | Jan 30, 2018

An interesting mess for older teens and up.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 28, 2010

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Sep 8, 2009

It just sits there, doing nothing that a competent made-for-cable movie with C-list stars couldn't do.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Mar 11, 2008

First pairing of Hollywood's beloved stars Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts is a mixed blessing in this mishmash of a movie, in which different genres and styles strenuously compete for our attention.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Jul 17, 2007

The Mexican coasts along throwing at us double-agent/double-crossings intrigue, witty one-liners, and some evocative scenery.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 27, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Habla usted mediocre movie?

Full Review | Original Score: C | Oct 6, 2005

The Mexican fails because the entire movie changes its tone from one moment to the next.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Dec 6, 2004

I left hoping that I never see either of them again in anything.

Full Review | Original Score: 0/4 | Jun 23, 2004

Gandolfini is especially good as the hitman with a heart of gold.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 1, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 14, 2003

The final concern for the audience is not how the film will end (you won't care), but when?

Full Review | Feb 13, 2003

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2003

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Movie Review: 'The Mexican'

Gore Verbinski, who directed The Mexican , is a TV commercial auteur whose award-winning reel includes the first Budweiser talking frogs spot. (Verbinski stretched as an artist in his feature directorial debut, reaching out to rodents in Mouse Hunt .)

Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, on the other hand, who star in The Mexican , are top of the food chain — they’re BRAD & JULIA, prince and princess of Hollywood, brought together for the first time in a historic union of box office royalty.

And here’s where worlds collide: Every now and then, when this picaresque caper loses its way, you can imagine Pitt and Roberts, each posed prettily on a lily pad, ribbitting BRAD. JULIA. BRAD. JULIA. You can envision them basking especially when the mournful flourishes of the soundtrack’s Mexican trumpets fall in a decrescendo of tinny cliches. And when the atmospheric scenes of dark-eyed kids waving sparklers blur from overuse. And when all the ancillary characters up to no particular good for no particular reason become wearisome. And when you can’t tell whether Verbinski is going for romance, comedy, or a Nike ad.

BRAD. JULIA. BRAD. JULIA. He smiles. She smiles. He squabbles charmingly with her. She scrabbles delightfully with him. In a flick of the tongue, they’ve pulled in more ticket buyers.

Do they entertain? Yes, as movie stars can, costumed in eye-catching amber and umber and ruby-colored T-shirts, staging a ”scene” in which a pair of lovers ”fight” or ”flee bad guys.” Do they create characters worth caring about — i.e., does Pitt convince us that he really is a conflicted Mob bagman named Jerry, and that he really is in danger when he’s sent south of the border from Las Vegas to retrieve a valuable antique pistol called ”the Mexican,” and that Roberts, as his girlfriend, Samantha, really is so committed to better communication with her man that she drags him to group therapy, and that the intrinsically adorable duo are crazy in bickering love? Ribbit .

This would-be-Peckinpah, wannabe-Tarantino, could-be-Gilliam story, with its contemporary, ironic dodges and feints, is, after all, made for a pair of stars with a quarter of the worldwide luster of BRAD & JULIA. Literally. The nuts-and-bolts original script by J.H. Wyman was first envisioned for relative unknowns, who would have been free to play the fun, frenetic heck out of hellishly-in-over-their-heads Jerry and Sam. Even somewhat-knowns (Billy Crudup and Samantha Morton?) or better-knowns (Ben Affleck and Sandra Bullock?) might have had a clearer shot than best-knowns at freeing Jerry and Sam from the ennui of the script’s larkiness and disposable irony: Bob Balaban plays a control-freak Mob heavy, Oz ‘s J.K. Simmons a neurotic Mob sidekick — are there no more happy-go-lucky wiseguys left on screen? (There’s also a requisite deadpan Mexican car rental agent, pawnbroker, grandmother, and smart dog.)

Alternatively, BRAD & JULIA might have made a perfectly okay, B-size product — but for the striking A-level performance of James Gandolfini as Leroy, a complex, anti-ironic hitman who kidnaps Samantha to further ensure the gun’s safe return. (The pistol, by the way, has a tragic curse attached to it, not counting the curse of calling forth scenes of old-timey Mexican drama that seem to have been swept off the cutting-room floor of All the Pretty Horses .)

It’s not the fault of The Sopranos ‘ charismatic, beefy star that he’s an actor of such substance and quiet ardor as to make idle movie star ribbitting look frivolous. But from the moment he enters the story, in a wordless scene involving Samantha, a highway rest-stop toilet stall, and a gun, Leroy ups the ante — and ups our hopes for a story with true grit. (Samantha clearly responds to his gravitas.) Leroy is, hands down, the person we care about most, and when he’s not on screen, the tortilla flatness of The Mexican becomes even more frustrating.

”I’m here to regulate funkiness,” he explains to his hostage, but really, what Gandolfini demonstrates is how one powerful player can regulate the thermostat of an entire film. Not only is the actor who currently rules pop culture as Tony Soprano able to step believably into a new character’s skin, but he’s also able to calm the leading lady’s itchy skin: In her scenes opposite Gandolfini, Roberts hops far from her lily pad, to a place that’s the closest to emotional truth we’re going to see from her Samantha, and the communication between hostage and hostage taker takes The Mexican , at least for a time, to an exciting place. (Albert Finney knew how to draw exciting work from Roberts in Erin Brockovich too; I see an award-winning future for her playing opposite tough guys.)

Then it’s back to frogland again, and cute scenes with Pitt and a doggy. Croak . C+

The Mexican STARRING Brad Pitt Julia Roberts DREAMWORKS RATED R 120 MINUTES

Related Articles

The Mexican Review

27 Apr 2001

124 minutes

Mexican, The

There's an old Hollywood adage: never work with animals or movie stars. After extracting a remarkable performance out of a trained rodent in Mouse Hunt, sophomore director Gore Verbinski continues to make life difficult by saddling his $15 million indie film with not one, but two marquee players: Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt.

As a small movie, full of ideas, boasting a surfeit of plot and an ambitious mis-match of genres, The Mexican would be worthy of the attention it would doubtless have failed to attract. Cast Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn and you've got a cult favourite, maybe. However, as it stands, with both Roberts and Pitt to be applauded for swallowing a big salary cut for material they believed in, the stakes are higher and the critical angle changes. After all, what the Heat-reading, multiplex masses want to know is simple: do the stellar pair create enough chemistry to give Jennifer Aniston sleepless nights?

Mrs. Pitt could rest easy; the plot contrived to keep the screen couple apart for 80 per cent of the action. More importantly, during their rare scenes together, Pitt and Roberts never let the audience forget they are movie stars, not slumming exactly, but certainly with full licence to indulge themselves. Thus we are treated to unusually mannered performing, any chemistry frittered away on facial tics and hissy fits.

Both are better when apart. Pitt manfully shoulders most of the movie's more pointless quirks - hey, it's Brad on a donkey! - but likeable loser Jerry remains charming and oafish when squirming with the heavies who have him by the balls.

Better yet is the Gandolfini-Roberts story thread. The former, who knows how to hold a camera without mugging, brings out the very best in Roberts; rather than compete with him she is a perfectly sweet foil, slowly teasing out the hidden depths in the hit man who has kidnapped her. Indeed, for all the pre-release Brad and Julia hype, it is Gandolfini, in his first major movie role since his Emmy-winning performance as Tony Soprano, who deserves all the plaudits. Unlike Pitt and Roberts, you never once see him acting.

Strangely, in a film about a mis-firing pistol, Gandolfini is the lone straight shooter, and whenever he is on screen Verbinski calls off the hunt for laughs and lets the drama develop naturally.

The Mexican would love to be Out Of Sight, but where Soderbergh's hip thriller was pure jazz, effortless and fluid, too often this dissolves into dissonant percussion: in equal parts slack and forced. That's not to say there's not a lot of good stuff here, but you have to excavate harder than one would like. Somewhere inside this bloated star vehicle is an off-beat road movie trying to get out.

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The mexican, common sense media reviewers.

An interesting mess for older teens and up.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Tendency to sterotype Mexican nationals.

Very violent, several deaths, including major char

Some sexual references.

Strong language.

Drinking and smoking, character drinks too much.

Parents need to know that this movie is very violent, with a lot of shooting, graphic injuries, and the deaths of important characters. A woman commits suicide when her lover is killed. Characters drink and smoke and one character is drunk. There are mild sexual references, including a homosexual relationship. Some of…

Positive Messages

Violence & scariness.

Very violent, several deaths, including major characters.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this movie is very violent, with a lot of shooting, graphic injuries, and the deaths of important characters. A woman commits suicide when her lover is killed. Characters drink and smoke and one character is drunk. There are mild sexual references, including a homosexual relationship. Some of the Mexican characters could be considered stereotypes, but then so could some of the American characters. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

What's the Story?

THE MEXICAN centers on Jerry ( Brad Pitt ) and Samantha ( Julia Roberts ), a couple whose romantic relationship is complicated enough when Jerry is called on to perform one last errand for a mob boss. He has to go to Mexico to get a valuable antique gun called "The Mexican" from a man named Beck and bring them both back with him. Jerry tries to explain to Samantha that given a choice between letting down the mob and letting down his girlfriend, the fact that only one of those options involves death has to factor into the calculus. Samantha, who is a big fan of the women's magazine school of relationships and who reads books like "Men Who Can't Love" with a highlighter in her hand, tosses Jerry's clothes out the window and sets off to pursue her dream of becoming a croupier in Las Vegas. The mob guys know that Jerry's focus and competence cannot be counted on without a little added incentive, so they arrange for Samantha to be kidnapped by a hitman named Leroy ( James Gandolfini ).

Is It Any Good?

Two of the biggest stars in Hollywood took pay cuts to appear in what is essentially a quirky independent movie -- with two of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But their star power overwhelms not just their acting but the movie's story as well. The effect is like trying to juggle a bowling ball with a dozen eggs. Fortunately, when things get out of kilter or the plot begins to sag, there is all that star power to give us something to enjoy until it gets going again. If the movie has a lot of pieces that don't quite fit together, at least they are all high-quality pieces. It may be something of a mess, but it is an interesting mess to watch.

Gandolfini is brilliant, and the scenes between Leroy and Samantha are the best part of the movie. We want Jerry and Sam to get together, but the movie becomes less interesting when they do. Even a surprise cameo from another big star doesn't help us through a final act that involves the loss of characters we've come to care about. Jerry and Samantha react and behave in ways that we are not used to seeing characters played by big stars behave. Pitt and Roberts give it their all, but the script doesn't have enough weight to help make that behavior consistent with what we know of the characters.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how people work out the complexities of relationships and why it is that so many of the characters care more about relationships than about money or the life and death situations all around them. The idea that "the past doesn't matter -- it's the future that counts" is a beguiling one -- is it true? Under what circumstances? Leroy talks about being "surrounded by lonliness and finality," and about how the people who die having loved are different from those who die alone. This is worth discussing, along with the way that Sam and Jerry begin to think about their relationship as being special enough so that they cannot walk away from it. Families may also want to talk about the way that Jerry's friend justifies participating in criminal acts by compartmentalizing, explaining that he is just doing his "portion."

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 2, 2001
• On DVD or streaming : June 7, 2022
• Cast : Brad Pitt , James Gandolfini , Julia Roberts
• Director : Gore Verbinski
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : DreamWorks
• Genre : Action/Adventure
• Run time : 123 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : violence and language
• Last updated : June 27, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The mexican.

Directed by Gore Verbinski

Love with the safety off.

Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, 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 to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures alive and in trouble with Samantha is better than the more permanent alternative, so he heads south of the border.

Brad Pitt Julia Roberts James Gandolfini J.K. Simmons David Krumholtz Bob Balaban Gene Hackman Michael Cerveris Richard Coca Castulo Guerra Salvador Sánchez Jeremy Roberts José Carlos Rodríguez Daniel Escobar Sherman Augustus Mayra Sérbulo Alan Ciangherotti Melisa Romero Ernesto Gómez Cruz Dale Raoul Jorge Malpica Pedro Armendáriz Jr. Steve Rossi Clint Curtis Lawrence Bender Ariane Pellicer Carlos Lacámara Daniel Zacapa Alfredo Escobar Show All… Luis Artagnan Fermín Martínez Gustavo Aguilar Tejada Lucía Pailles Gilberto Barraza Humberto Fernández Tristan Luis Felipe Tovar Fausta Torres Loló Navarro Emiliano Guerra Miguel Ángel Fuentes Angelina Peláez Arthur Taxier William Fuller Gerardo Taracena John Pisci Rudy Aikels Ronald Simone Gloria M. Malgarini

Director Director

Gore Verbinski

Producers Producers

John Baldecchi Lawrence Bender William S. Beasley Paul Hellerman

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Denise Chamian

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Dariusz Wolski

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

William Tyrer Christopher Ball Aaron Ryder J.H. Wyman

Production Design Production Design

Cecilia Montiel

Art Direction Art Direction

Michael Atwell

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Robert Greenfield

Special Effects Special Effects

Matt Kutcher

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Richard Chuang Jason Heapy Alex Frisch Kymber Lim

Stunts Stunts

M. James Arnett Seth Arnett David Leitch

Composer Composer

Alan Silvestri

Sound Sound

Tom Myers Tim Holland

Costume Design Costume Design

Colleen Atwood

Makeup Makeup

Jean Ann Black

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Mary L. Mastro

Pistolero Productions LLC Newmarket Capital Group Lawrence Bender Productions DreamWorks Pictures

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Spanish

Releases by Date

01 mar 2001, 30 mar 2001, 24 apr 2001, 25 apr 2001, 26 apr 2001, 27 apr 2001, 28 apr 2001, 03 may 2001, 04 may 2001, 06 jul 2001, 16 aug 2001, 11 may 2001, 25 may 2001, 31 may 2001, releases by country.

• Theatrical M Re-Rating
• Theatrical 12+
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical 13
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical M/12

South Korea

• Theatrical 11
• Theatrical R

123 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Chase Anderson ★★ 3

Brad Pitt wears an unbelievable number of combinations of long-sleeve shirts under short-sleeve shirts throughout this movie. At one point he is upset that someone has taken his jacket, but when he gets it back, he does not put it back on; he just wears more long-sleeve shirts under short-sleeve shirts.

Review by Jade talks too much🍹🦒 ★★★★ 1

An oddball mismatch of every genre ever🎬 featuring Julie Roberts helping Tony Soprano find a boyfriend🏳️‍🌈 & JK Simmons with hair💇🏻‍♂️. Also, dumb Brad Pitt🥴.

It’s a mess & I didn’t love some of the story choices but damn is it fun🤩. It’s super original🔫.  The Roberts/Gandolfini stuff makes the movie👍.

Review by Matt Singer ★★★★ 7

My wife (then girlfriend) and I saw this one in the theater way back in 2001, and I *hated* it. Now I find my opinion completely flipped. This is a funny relationship movie, a really good heist film (that doesn't actually contain a heist), and a surprisingly touching character study about a lonely, thoughtful hitman (James Gandolfini, in what may be his best film performance). Beyond the stuff with Pitt and Roberts (both good, although they spend most of the movie apart), there are some clever running gags involving rental cars and stray dogs, and a lot of strong supporting performances even beyond Gandolfini: J.K. Simmons, Bob Balaban, David Krumholtz, and another great actor who's a big third-act surprise.

This movie is very, very good. I don't know what changed. Me, I guess.

(ALSO: Vadinho from THE PUMAMAN is in this as a car thief, which makes the movie EVEN MORE AWESOME.)

Review by Hannah

Idiot Brad is the BEST Brad

Review by Michael James ★★½

A crime action comedy that’s entertaining in bits n pieces. The script is dull and drags along for way too long. While I was excited for the combo of Brad Pitt-Julia Roberts, it’s actually James Gandolfini who springs out as a total surprise and steals the show. His sequences with Roberts was total fun and easily the best part of the movie in an otherwise average outing.

Review by Minty ★★★

This movie has absolutely no fucking idea what it wants to be, and that's kind of the best thing about it.

Review by matt lynch ★★★★

"That's fair where I come from."

Review by Pube ★★★½ 7

I thought this was a movie called The Mexican starring Brad Pitt, but it’s really James Gandolfini’s masterpiece.

Review by Gabeg ★★★½ 3

JK SIMMONS WITH HAIR 😱

Review by Mos Co ★★★½ 1

Julia Roberts and James Gandolfini together are very watchable.

Review by Josh Gillam ★★★

Before Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts signed on The Mexican was originally going to be a low budget indie movie, something that shows in the quirkily unconventional approach taken for a major Hollywood project like this, splitting these stars off into different stories for a large majority while keeping the focus centred on their characters’ various offbeat interactions above all.

You can really see Gore Verbinski honing his distinctive sensibility and aptitude for pastiche/homage with the Mexico-set sequences in particular, a knowingly heightened Spaghetti Western flavour to this offbeat segment that seems to be the area he’s most comfortable playing around with. 

In terms of consistent vision the film is probably at its strongest in this section, but it dilutes…

Review by rachel ★★★★

delicious finally some good fucking food

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The Mexican

Time out says, release details.

• Duration: 124 mins

Cast and crew

• Director: Gore Verbinsky
• Screenwriter: JH Wyman
• Sherman Augustus
• Gene Hackman
• Michael Cerveris
• Richard Coca
• Bob Balaban
• David Krumholtz
• Julia Roberts
• James Gandolfini

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• DVD & Streaming

The Mexican

• Drama , Romance

Content Caution

In Theaters

• Julia Roberts as Samantha Barzel; Brad Pitt as Jerry Welbach; James Gandolfini as Winston Baldry; J.K. Simmons as Ted Slocum; Bob Balaban as Bernie Nayman

Home Release Date

• Gore Verbinski

Distributor

Movie review.

As the indentured servant of a crime boss, Jerry has one job left before he can leave the mob behind. His live-in, psychobabbling girlfriend Sam thinks that’s one job too many. She’s had it. But if Jerry doesn’t drive to Mexico to retrieve a legendary pistol, he’s a dead man. So he makes a run for the border. In a huff, she heads to Las Vegas. The Mexican chronicles those parallel, yet connected misadventures.

Trust the rating on this one, not the light-hearted TV ads. Audiences primed for a rollicking romantic comedy will find that the dead bodies on this violent road trip outnumber the laughs (several people are shot at point-blank range). Some of those kills are connected to a ruthless hit-man who nabs Sam as insurance. Oddly enough, hostage and captor bond over deeply felt relational “issues” (a perverse plot twist kicks in when she IDs him as a gay man and encourages him to pick up a companion for their trek, which he does).

This film’s dialogue is rife with profanity, including misuses of God’s name and frequent f-words. Frank conversations about sex and porn (one implying that sexual performance is a valuable way to judge a potential mate’s character) are joined by immodesty, alcohol use and romanticized suicide. The story itself may be interestingly constructed, but that’s like saying the Bates Motel has nice eaves.

A key sentiment here is that true love endures all things. Great. That echoes the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:7. However, families that have established moral boundaries for entertainment will find The Mexican located south of the border.

Bob Smithouser

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The Mexican (2001)

The Mexican is a kind of Hollywood bait-and-switch. With its dream-team pairing of box-office heavyweight heartthrobs Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, it seems to promise a cute romantic comedy, Pretty Woman Meets Pretty Man (an impression shrewdly reinforced by the marketing campaign). What it delivers, though, is an offbeat caper/road-movie type flick that keeps Roberts and Pitt apart for almost all of its overlong running time, during which period it rambles unevenly over some of the same terrain as better films like Raising Arizona , Midnight Run , and Romancing the Stone , accompanied by a Tarantino-esque nostalgic soundtrack incongruously scoring moments of high tension or violence.

Artistic/Entertainment Value

Moral/spiritual value, age appropriateness, mpaa rating, caveat spectator.

The elements are all familiar: a dangerous quest in unknown territory, a clueless foreigner in over his head in hostile surroundings, a tough guy saddled with an unwilling captive/companion who drives him crazy until they begin to bond, supporting characters with unknown allegiances, and, of course, a number of twists and double-reverses.

There’s some freshness here amid the formula, but mainstream audiences are liable to find The Mexican too long and slow, too violent, and too off-putting. A few film aficianados and critics, numbed by the present dismal spate of lousy Hollywood efforts, may hail it as a wonderful find. But only the absence of worthwhile competition — and a highly watchable performance by "The Sopranos"’s James Gandolfini (who gets far more screen time with Roberts than Pitt does) — qualifies this middling effort as a modest success by any standard.

The "Mexican" in the title is, happily, neither Roberts nor Pitt, nor even Gandolfini (Charleton Heston may have gotten away with playing a Mexican in Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil , but that was fifty years ago). Nor is the film named for any of the actual Mexicans in the story. In fact, the title character isn’t a person at all, but a gun: an ornate, hand-crafted pistol with an enigmatic history shrouded in legend. This legend is revisited in several forms during the film, using sepia-toned footage from a hand-cranked camera to lend an air of antiquity and unreality.

Made a hundred years earlier as a wedding gift for a nobleman, the Mexican features a heart-shaped chamber and decorative relief figures of a man holding a woman, and a snake eating an apple. Described in the production notes as a "lover’s gun" (whatever that is), the pistol simultaneously embodies sex and violence — key themes that are intertwined throughout The Mexican . Even the film’s fatuous advertising blurb ("Love with the safety off") combines romance and firearms, gunplay and foreplay.

Director Gore Verbinski says that his "concept for the pistol is simply that love is worth fighting for." The movie does contain a lot of fighting, mostly shooting (virtually every character in the film shoots a gun, and is shot at, and a number of people are killed); and some of it is motivated by love. Still, none of this can really be described as "fighting for" love, unless you think it is "fighting for love" when, after someone kills your lover, you proceed to kill that person, or yourself.

The Mexican is the film’s McGuffin, the thing everybody is after. Bumbling Jerry (Pitt, displaying real comic talent) is after it because his accidental entanglement with an underworld figure has made him an unwilling mob bagman, and, despite his abyssmal track record, his bosses have decided to entrust him with the task of going to Mexico to retrieve the priceless firearm (good plan, wiseguys). Jerry’s bosses have their reasons for seeking the gun, but there are also others who want it for reasons of their own.

Samantha (Roberts, also funny, but abrasive) is one of the film’s few characters who isn’t after the pistol — yet, because she’s Jerry’s girlfriend, she’s involved whether she wants to be or not. Furious at Jerry for his involvement in yet another mission for the mob, Samantha sets off alone for Las Vegas, where two rival hitmen vie to kidnap her. The survivor (Gandolfini) tells her that his name is Leroy and that he’s taking her as collateral to ensure that Jerry delivers the gun.

Gandolfini has formidable presence and great comic timing, and he just about steals the film. He also has some of the best lines. My favorite moment with him and Sam involves a gas-station ladies’ room, a locked door, and a back window: In a way, I feel as if I’ve been waiting for years for some movie to show me just that scene. And the touchy-feely "girl talk" quality of his exchanges with Sam puts a fresh spin on the familiar device of Stockholm-syndrome bond between captor and captive.

Still, I can’t help wondering: Was the film helped by making Gandolfini’s character a homosexual, and by making such a big deal about his homosexuality? Is the concept of a gay hitman supposed to be intrinsically humorous? Does the fact that he’s gay make his cutesy-poo girl-talk with Sam funnier? Couldn’t he be straight and still be sensitive and touchy-feely — and wouldn’t that arguably be funnier? Finally, are even gay moviegoers likely to appreciate yet another gay character who’s also a cold-blooded killer (and worse)?

Perhaps the thought was that he had to be gay in order to avoid sexual tension with Roberts (who at first wonders if he’s going to rape her, and then, when he shows a distinct lack of interest in the possibility, is offended until she figures out that he’s gay). Yet Roberts’ character is so abrasive that it’s no stretch at all to envision a straight man having no interest in her. (My companion at the movies that evening suggested a different possibility: Perhaps they made him gay because it was too difficult to imagine a straight hitman not simply shooting her after ten minutes.)

In any case, there’s a tiresome, off-putting subplot with the hitman picking up and sleeping with a gay postal worker (Michael Cerveris, exhibiting none of Gandolfini’s charisma), while Roberts looks on with glowing approval. Would she have thought it was so wonderful if he’d been a straight man who’d picked up a woman?

There are two questions The Mexican keeps coming back to: First, if you really love someone, but you just can’t seem to make it work, when do you reach that point where enough is enough? And second, do you like sex and travel? To its credit, the movie knows what is the right answer to the first question — and what is the wrong answer to the second question, which shouldn’t have been asked in the first place. The Mexican is about fidelity, about never giving up on love, about forgiveness and sacrifice. It is also about shooting people.

Theological note: In one version of the legend of the Mexican, a character is presented as nobly committing suicide, "bravely surrendering her soul to purgatory" in the words of another character. The idea of a suicide going to purgatory (and thence to heaven), rather than to hell, is perfectly compatible with Church teaching: Although suicide is gravely wrong, sin is not mortal unless the sinner also has sufficient reflection and full consent, either of which a suicide might easily lack.

However, the film also proposes some nonsense about the suicide’s soul coming to reside in a physical object, until being "set free" at a later point; which is silly superstition at best. Of course, the whole thing is simply something that one character says, so it’s not necessary to attribute these ideas to the film itself. Still, it’s best to be clear about what is actually compatible with Church teaching and what isn’t.

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The Mexican (2001)

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The Mexican

A quality Mexican film is almost as rare as a quality Mexican car, but much like the mighty El Camino, The Mexican starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts , while it bears a Mexican name is totally American indeed.

Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts are a couple having troubles, big troubles. Pitt has to go to Mexico to deal with mobsters, mobsters send a gay hit man to kidnap Julia, Pitt gets beat up, broke down, and stranded…. And then the trouble starts. There’s certainly no shortage of wannabe edgy gangster flicks, but unlike many recent efforts in this genre, The Mexican soars.

Unlike 3000 Miles to Graceland or Snatch, other current gangster flicks, The Mexican isn’t caught up in trying to shock its audience. It’s not waving a giant red flag saying “look at me!”, instead it softly pads across the kitchen floor in a pair of old dirty flip flops to clean up the remnants of last nights party only to discover that the cat has been drinking leftover beer and has collapsed in a drunken stupor next to his water dish.

Yes its funny, yes its dark, yes it’s actually good… despite all critical protestations to the contrary. But ladies! This is really not a romantic film. I think a lot of women have this idea that this is some sort of Julia Roberts Brad Pitt romantic comedy…. And who could blame them, for the preview presents it as such. This is not the case. Pitt and Roberts really have few scenes together and while there is some element of romance, this is not a primarily romantic film. Sure at the end there is this sudden and abrupt attempt to make it all lovey dovey, but its not a good thing, trust me… the ending is merely a 10 minute blight on an otherwise quality film.

This is a dark comedy… with all the amoralistic and violent connotations that are so common with a movie of that variety. Its rated R for a reason girls, so don’t go expecting to get all gushy with your boyfriend over it alright?

And watch out for that ending… it’s a long drop.

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The Mexican

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

The Mexican pairs Brad Pitt with Julia Roberts in a dream casting coup that promises a road movie of blissful comic romance and delivers a series of dramatic dead ends. Pitt plays Jerry, a low-rent mob bagman whose girlfriend, Samantha (Roberts), dumps him when he takes on a new assignment instead of going straight as he promised. As Jerry crosses the border to collect an antique gun, called the Mexican, Samantha heads to Vegas to forget him. That is, until she’s taken hostage by mob hitman Leroy, played by James Gandolfini — Mr. Tony Soprano himself — in the film’s best performance. In case you’re not getting the drift, Pitt and Roberts don’t have many scenes together, since J.H. Wyman’s script is filled with distracting side trips, including flashbacks showing why the gun is cursed. Gore Verbinski, a director of commercials who debuted in features with 1997’s oddball Mouse Hunt , takes the odd route again by separating his star attractions for most of the film. As dumb ideas go, that one is a Hall of Famer.

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• Cast & crew
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The Mexican

• A man tries to transport an ancient gun called The Mexican, believed to carry a curse, back across the border, while his girlfriend pressures him to give up his criminal ways.
• Jerry Welbach is given two ultimatums. His mob boss wants him to travel to Mexico to get a priceless antique pistol called "The Mexican" or he will suffer the consequences. The other ultimatum comes from his girlfriend Samantha, who wants him to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures that being alive, although in trouble with his girlfriend is the better alternative so he heads south of the border. Finding the pistol is easy but getting it home is a whole other matter. The pistol supposedly carries a curse - a curse Jerry is given every reason to believe, especially when Samantha is held hostage by the gay hit man Leroy to ensure the safe return of the pistol. — ck
• Brad Pitt has been working for a mobster who is in prison because Pitt accidentally ran a red light and hit the mobster's car. When the police arrived, they found a body in the mobster's trunk. The guy was alive but was obviously going to be murdered. The mobster was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Pitt has been forced to work for the mobster to pay for having caused him to go to prison. Julia Roberts is Pitt's girlfriend and they have been having difficulties with their relationship. Roberts now wants to go to Vegas but Pitt has to make one last trip for the mobster or he will be killed. Roberts throws Pitt out and heads to Vegas alone and Pitt heads to Mexico on his last mission. Pitt has been given orders by the 2nd in command (Bob Balaban) to pick up a gun called "The Mexican" and bring it back. Pitt gets to Mexico and picks up the gun but unfortunately, the man he gets it from is accidentally killed by a stray bullet fired during a Mexican celebration. Pitt calls Balaban and reports the problem and while he's on the phone, his car is stolen, gun and all. Pitt sets out after the car to try and retrieve the gun. Meanwhile, on the way to Vegas Roberts is in a restroom when a gunman grabs her and before anything happens, James Gandolfini saves her by shooting the man. Gandolfini claims that he is working for the mobster and that his name is Leroy. He is a very sensitive, gay psychotic killer who is there to protect Roberts. They get to Vegas and along the way Gandolfini picks up a gay postal worker who spends a romantic evening with Gandolfini. In the morning Roberts and Gandolfini go out for breakfast and while they're eating, the gunman goes to their hotel room and kills the postal worker by throwing him off the balcony. Roberts and Gandolfini get back and this time Gandolfini shoots the man in the head to kill him for good. Roberts and Gandolfini are told by Balaban to head to Mexico and meet Pitt because things have gone wrong. In Mexico, Pitt has recovered the gun and then lost it a second time. A man from the mob has come down to help him. Pitt knows the man had been sent to kill him so he tricks the man, gets the gun and drives to the airport to leave Mexico. Unfortunately, Pitt has the wrong passport and can't get on his flight. He goes back to the small town where he left the man handcuffed, but he's gone. Gandolfini and roberts meet up with Pitt and for some reason, Pitt does not tell him he has the gun but will take him to where it's hidden. Pitt has an argument with Roberts and nearly wrecks the car causing a blowout. While Pitt is changing the tire, Gandolfini pulls a gun on him. Roberts is furious with Pitt and has been walking away. Pitt hasn't seen Gandolfini's gun yet but Gandolfini sees Roberts walking away and puts his gun away. He knows that Roberts loves Pitt and he just can't kill him. Gandolfini helps Pitt change the tire and now Pitt pulls a gun on Gandolfini. Gandolfini sees the gun in the reflection on the hubcap and turns to fire but Pitt shoots first and kills Gandolfini. It seems that Pitt had once met Leroy and knew that Gandolfini was not who he claimed to be. He realized that he was there to kill him. Roberts is extremely upset but Pitt and her stay together trying to decide what to do now. In their hotel room, Pitt looks out the window and see someone trying to break into his car. the same person that stole it the first time. He goes down to stop him and is punched in the face (twice) and knocked out. He is driven to a very nice ranch house and there he meets the mob boss who has been let out of prison - Gene Hackman. In prison Hackman was befriended by the grandson of the ranchowner. the son was killed saving the life of Hackman in prison. The ranch owner is the grandson of the man who made "The Mexican." We are now told the true legend of The mexican. It was made by a gunsmith as a gift to a rich noble so the nobleman's son would marry his daughter. Unfortunately, the daughter was in love with the gunsmith's assistant. On the wedding day the nobleman's son is presented with the gun and it fails to work. He notices his future bride and the assistant staring at each other. He realizes they are in love and shoots and kills the assistant. The girl picks up the gun, puts it to her head and shoots herself. The gun contained two bullets, one of which has now been used. Hackman has been trying to get the gun to give it back to the rightful owner, the great grandson. Balaban has been trying to get it to sell for profit. Roberts is back in the hotel room and has the gun tied to her leg when Balaban appears on the balcony. Roberts hides between 2 mattresses. We next see Pitt and some Mexican employees of the ranchowner driving into town. Balaban is standing beside his car and asks Pitt where the gun is. Pitt says only Roberts knows and Balaban opens the trunk to reveal Roberts. Unfortunately for Balaban, when he opens the trunk, Roberts has the gun pointed right at him. She shoots the 2nd and last bullet, hitting him in the throat. We hardly know he's been shot until he opens his mouth and smoke comes out. The ranchhands take the gun back to the ranch and a brass ring that had fallen off the gun is picked up by Pitt. He uses it as a wedding band and places it on Roberts finger. The final scene shows the two of them driving off - arguing...

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