The Mexican was the first movie to star Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts together. They were also in Ocean's 11 together. Pitt and Roberts were great in the movie, and very believable in their roles. They just didn't have enough scenes together. This movie had comedy, romance, some action, and some violent scenes.

The movie began with a scene at an intersection. The camera moved forward to a close up of the traffic light. It changed to green, then right back to red. Off camera, we heard a car accident. The significance of this accident will be explained later. The scene then changed to show a closeup of Jerry's face. He looked worried about something.

Jerry and Ted went to see Nayman. All three men worked for another man named Margolese, who was in prison. Even though he was in prison, Margolese was still in control of his different operations. Jerry had been working for Margolese, doing jobs for him for a while. He thought his last job was THE last job he would have to do. Unfortunately, he managed to screw it up - in part because his girlfriend Sam hid the car keys. Jerry and Sam had plans to go to Las Vegas. Since he screwed up the last job, Jerry had to do one more job. He ha to go to Mexico and find a man with a gun that belonged to Margolese and bring both back to the states. Jerry tried to say he couldn’t do it, because he had plans to move with Sam. Nayman did give him a choice. Either go to Mexico and do the job, or be wrapped up in a carpet - up to his neck - and set on fire. Gee, tough choice.

Of course Jerry was going to go to Mexico. But when he told, Sam she was not happy. They got into an argument over it. He was in the parking lot and she was on the balcony of their apartment, throwing his stuff down at him. Sam was having a fit, saying Jerry is selfish and didn't care about her needs. She was spouting off some psycho babble she picked up from the group therapy they go to. She even called a time out at one time, cutting off Jerry's explanations. She didn't seem to get that Jerry had no choice in this matter. He had to go or die. She gave him an ultimatum. She was going to Las Vegas with or without him. He says he had to go. She then threw something at him - I'm not sure what it was, maybe his wallet - and hit him in the face.

Jerry arrived in Mexico. He didn't speak any Spanish. He rented a car found the man he was looking for in a bar. I think the man's name was Billy, but I'm not completely sure. Billy told Jerry some of the legend behind the gun, which was known as The Mexican. The legend was shown while Billy told the story. The quality of the picture changed a bit during the telling of the legend. The color was different too, not black and white since there was some color, but not much color at all. More about the legend of the gun will be told later in the movie, in the same way. Basically, the gun was cursed. Shortly after that, there was a freak accident involving Billy. That was the beginning of Jerry’s bad luck in Mexico.

While Jerry was in Mexico having the worst luck, Sam was on her way to Las Vegas. She went by herself. She had her own bad luck when she was kidnaped by a hit man named Leroy. Margolese and his people thought that Jerry was trying to sell the gun himself instead of bringing it back. They don't believe his bad luck - these people had been dealing with Jerry for a few years now. It seems like they should be used to his luck and how things get screwed up. Anyway, Leroy was sent after Sam to make sure Jerry would turn the gun over. Sam was not happy about this. She and Leroy continued on to Las Vegas. During the drive, Sam ranted about Jerry, blaming him for everything. Sam and Leroy ended up bonding. They had several long talks about personal things. During one of the talks, we found out how Jerry came to work for Margolese, and how Margolese ended up in jail. There was more to Leroy. He was very insightful at times.

Do Jerry and Sam make up? Does Jerry get the gun to Margolese? To find out what happens, watch the movie.

CAST

Julia Roberts - Sam (Samantha)
Brad Pitt - Jerry
James Gandolfini - Leroy
J. K. Simmons - Ted
Bob Balaban - Nayman - I think that is the character's name, I did check on the credits of the movie, so am pretty sure this is right
Gene Hackman - Margolese

Gore Verbinski - Director

The Mexican was rated R. It contained some violent scenes and graphic language - a certain word that rhymes with luck was used often. I saw the movie in the theaters when it first was released. I have also seen the DVD. The movie is also available on VHS. The movie is rated R for a reason, and it is not suitable for young children. It is definitely not for children under 13. Older than that, it is up the parent's judgement of what they what their child to see. There is some violent scenes and some profane language.

I thought that The Mexican was an enjoyable, entertaining movie. I do like Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, but I haven't liked everything either of them have done. Most notably the incredibly long, dull, and boring Meet Joe Black. Not even Brad Pitt could make that movie worth watching, though he did look really good in it. In fact, I watched large chucks of it on fast forward - this was before I had my DVD player - something I never do. For the most part, I have liked the movies I have seen with Julia, but I haven't seen all of her movies. Some of them just didn't appeal to me. And I'm not to fond of My Best Friend's Wedding. Yes, it has some very funny scenes in it, but I didn't really like her character in that movie. I think it was because she was scheming too much. That character wasn’t as likeable, so I didn't enjoy the movie as much. Anyway, the reason for my ramblings about their other movies is just to point out that I don't automatically love everything they have done. So when I say I liked and enjoyed this movie, it isn't just automatically because these two were in it. I found this to be a good, enjoyable movie. Is it the best movie ever made? Of course not. But it isn't the worst either.

The plot of The Mexican was original, about a cursed gun. Sending a man who had the worst luck in the world after the gun was hilarious. It was so funny to see what mess Jerry would get in next and how he would get out of it. Brad and Julia are great in the scenes they have together. The argument at the beginning of the movie was a riot. I laughed myself silly when she hits him in the face with whatever it was she threw - I have seen the movie twice now, once in the theater, and on DVD and I still don't know for sure what she threw at him. It looked to small to be a shoe, so I think it was a wallet. Unfortunately, they don't have enough scenes together. For most of the movie, each was off doing their own thing. Jerry was in Mexico tracking down the gun, and Sam was on her way to Vegas, and kidnaped. Julia had a lot of scenes with James Gandolfini. It was interesting to see her go from being afraid of him to bonding with him and considering him a friend.

Brad Pitt was very believable as Jerry in The Mexican. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, his bad luck, and the situations he got into. Jerry was a bumbling fool at times, and Brad pulled that off. This movie proved that he can do comedy. I don't know if he has done one before. I don't think so, but I could be wrong since I haven't seen that many of his movies. He was wonderful in this movie. Since I first saw The Mexican, I have seen some other movies that Pitt was in, and Jerry was very different from any other character Pitt had played. He can convincingly play different types of characters.

Julia Roberts was also very believable in her role as Sam. At times, her character was annoying, like how she blamed Jerry for everything and how she didn't really listen to him when he was trying to tell her that he had to go to Mexico - and she said he was selfish. She spouted psycho babble that she picked up for the group therapy she made Jerry go to. She was the more controlling person in that relationship, and truly, I thought she was the selfish one. She wasn't always annoying though. Overall, her character was likeable, just a bit mixed up, and a tad nuts. I liked Sam a lot better than I did the character Roberts played in My Best Friend’s Wedding. James Gandolfini was really good as Leroy. I hadn't seen him in anything before this. Yes, I have never seen The Sopranos - I don’t get HBO. He also made his character believable, and likeable. Yes, he was likeable, even though he was a hit man. He had some great scenes with Julia and a few were rather touching. Gene Hackman was only in one scene near the end of The Mexican. He didn't have much to do in this movie, but he was good in his little part. And when I first saw the movie, I had no idea he was in it until he showed up.

Some of The Mexican was filmed on location in Mexico, so those scenes seemed very realistic. The town where most of the action took place in Mexico - I can't remember the name of it - was shown at night, when Jerry first arrived, and in day during other scenes. The buildings looked like there were adobe, and the streets were cobblestones or something like that. When entering the city, Jerry had to drive through this long tunnel. There were lights up in the tunnel, but it was still very dark and murky looking in there. Creepy looking. There are some beautiful costumes shown in a few scenes - one being a deleted scene on the DVD.

Even though a large part of the movie took place in Mexico, most of the characters speak English. Once or twice someone spoke in Spanish, and the subtitles came across the bottom of the screen, but you won't have to read them that often. At different times in the movie, in scenes taking place in Mexico, there was Mexican music playing. That just added to the authenticity of the scenes. The music fit right in.

CHARACTERS

Jerry - He was one of the main characters in the movie. He had been doing jobs for Margolese for several years. He seemed to always screw them up somehow. He was sent to Mexico, on one last job, to retrieve The Mexican, a cursed gun. Jerry had the worst luck in the world. If anything could go wrong, it would. And even some things you think could never happen did happen when Jerry was around. I think he was cursed. He should probably stay in bed with the covers over his head on Friday the 13th. I would hate to see what trouble he could get in on that day. He was a bit of a bumbling idiot, but he was loveable.

Sam - One of the main characters of the movie. She was Jerry's girlfriend. She was sick of him working for Margolese. She wanted to go to Las Vegas. She was really ticked off that Jerry had to go to Mexico, and she ended up going to Vegas alone. At times she was annoying, but she was a likeable character. She's just a bit messed up. She had some fits a few times that make her look like a complete idiot. One time, Leroy asked her a very important question. She answered with a bunch of jibberish that made no sense, and then sat there looking at him like she gave an intelligent answer. She does work through a few things during the movie, with the help of Leroy.

Leroy - Another main character. He was the hit man sent to kidnap Sam to make sure Jerry brought the gun back like he was supposed to. At first, he appeared to just be a nasty, cold blooded killer, but during the movie, we learned there was more to Leroy. He had a softer side. He was very insightful about some things. He helped Sam work though a few things. They had some very long talks.

The Mexican - Another main character. Yes, that's right. I said the gun was one of the main characters. This gun was the central point of the whole movie. And yes objects can be considered characters too. I learned that in my high school English class when I had to write several very long papers on the books of Nathaniel Hawthorne. My teacher agreed with my thoughts about objects being main characters in a few of his works. I got the highest grades in the class on those papers too. Anyway, back to the movie. The gun was what drives the whole movie. Jerry had to go to Mexico to get it back. That was why Sam goes to Las Vegas by herself. The gun was why Sam was kidnaped by Leroy. The gun was related to Jerry's bad luck in Mexico. This gun was either the direct, or indirect reason for everything that happens in this movie. The history of the gun was told in the movie - no I'm not going to tell that here. A character told Jerry about it while the scene played out. The gun itself was beautiful. For a gun. It had a lot of silver work on it and there were silver hearts on both sides of it.

Ted - He was a minor, supporting character. He also worked for Margolese. He and Jerry went to see Nayman together at the beginning of the movie. Ted was who Jerry called when he ran into trouble in Mexico. Ted's character wasn't as well developed as the others, but he wasn't in that much of the movie.

Nayman - He worked for Margolese. He was in charge of things while Margolese was in jail. He was the one that sent Jerry to Mexico after the gun. He wasn't well developed either, but like Ted, he was in only a few scenes.

Billy - The man Jerry had to find in Mexico. I think this was his name, but I may be wrong. His name was only said once or twice, and then I forgot to check the credits to see if a Billy was listed. Anyway, he had the gun. He was involved in a freak accident - probably due to the fact that he was with Jerry and Jerry's bad luck rubbed off on him.

Margolese - Another minor character. He was in jail - we find out during the movie how he got there. He will be out soon. He was the one that wanted Jerry to go to Mexico to bring back the gun.

DVD FEATURES

The DVD for The Mexican had several special features. Of course there was the standard scene selection available. There was a film makers commentary. I didn't listen to that, so I don't know how good it was. There were eight deleted scenes. A few were whole scenes that never made it into the movie, and others were longer versions of scenes that did make it in the movie.

There was something called The Making of The Mexican. I didn't get a chance to watch that either so I don't know how long it was or how interesting. A teaser and the trailer that played in theaters was included. There was something about the cast and film makers, I think it was a listing of the other movies each has done, but I didn't get a chance to check that either. It was really late when I watched the movie and it had to go back to Blockbuster the next day. I was too tired to watch all the extras like I usually do. The DVD also includes production notes.

The DVD had the widescreen version of the movie. I don't know what the ratio or anything like that was on this movie. I never thought to check the back of the case to see if it was listed there. I don't know a lot about the technical things related to DVDs, I just know I like them a lot better than VHS. The sound and picture quality of the movie were really good.

Overall, The Mexican was a good, entertaining movie. It had a little bit of everything in it, from some action to romance. There were some very funny scenes in this movie, and also a few that are touching. If you like comedies, Julia Roberts, or Brad Pitt, check this movie out.

Related Reviews

America's Sweethearts ~ Ocean's 11 ~ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ~


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older