The Mexican (2001)

(In theaters, February 2001) The hardest type of films to review are those competent movies that are simply adequate entertainment, without being excessively good nor bad, just maybe too ordinary. And so is The Mexican, two solid hours of not-too-dumb not-too-smart entertainment. Its attempts at quirkiness hamper the film as much as they help, with almost-gratuitous end twists that retrospectively create more problems than they solve. Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt are appealing leads, but somehow they don’t work as well as it could be expected. The villain is unusually ineffectual; his big entrance (complete with potato chips) will create more giggling than dread. The film constantly threatens to become very interesting while never daring to do so. Oh well.