"The Mexican"

Take two of Hollywood's hottest stars add in televisions hottest star and place them in a twisting romantic, thriller, road movie and you have "The Mexican".

Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts star together in this new film by the director who brought you "Mouse Hunt" and the talking frogs from the Budweiser commercials. Pitt plays Jerry, a bumbling guy looking to straighten out his life and relationship with his girlfriend Sam, played by Roberts. But just as Sam has given Jerry his last chance he learns that he has to do one more thing before his debt to the mob is paid in full. He must go to Mexico and retrieve a gun aptly called "the Mexican" and bring it back to the states and give it to the crime lord.

Sam tells him it is either his trip or her and he chooses the job because if he doesn't do it he will end up dead. As he goes off to Mexico she heads to Las Vegas to start a new life. Now the fun really starts, Jerry gets the gun, then loses it, then recovers it, then loses it again, then happens upon it and once again loses it. All the while we get to laugh and feel for Jerry as we want him to succeed.

Pitt is truly a great actor, he can go from nutcase in "12 Monkeys", to strightlaced detective in "Seven", plus great roles in "Fight Club", "Snatch" and "Thelma and Louise", he is building a great resume' and hopefully will be acknowledged somewhere down the line as more than just a pretty face. As Jerry is having his troubles, Sam is kidnapped by Leroy played by "The Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, in a role much like his "True Romance" part but now he has a heart. Gandolfini gives the film a calming sensation that keeps the goofiness of Pitt and Roberts characters in check.

It is great fun to watch Leroy and Sam grow on each other as hostage and capter but not in the traditional cliched way. "The Mexican" runs for two hours which may be about ten minutes to long but it is a really fun, twisting film that keeps you guessing up until the end.

I hope Pitt and Roberts and Gandolfini work together in the future. It's nice to see a big Hollywood picture not follow the same Hollywood cliches and make a picture that we haven't seen in quite awhile. I would see this again and I believe it is the type of movie that the more you watch the more you would enjoy.