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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2001)
4 i £ ■ l * I f [ai-ch 2,2001 Mm E.H4 Ilf f J 2SEi x- ^ .4 r I. CjI 1 / THE BATTALION jf South of the border whe Mexican opens in theaters today, but the movie, with its big stars, may not be worth all the hype sws ini J will ^ ingsait ner ben .AS (AP) ; South Metlt year will tjg benefits 5- d same-sen -es. the move, hool will bee’ :as and onec': ous instituti =<tend such diversity will erofprivati d offer same ' gan OlseoJ : for busint| ' The Mexican has been hyped up aid the ber f jfor weeks now and stars two of Hol- •J si ness de: lywmrd's biggest, but the movie itself SMU tore is not worth all the talk. It is so un- r top teachr = becoming:* roloyers nat: is benefit,’ri •rning Wens ions. "This; sure SMU re: e best peop; ■ rs of the. ‘ouncil recr ne policy, b: -■ Senate wi: ooncur. The Mexican Starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts Directed by.GoreVerbinski rrstand intir. tck person: s not just a ( aid some ft rerracialrek ybody,”PiK rs different te way you.' re sometk- ice in inter, of race have: spectacular and consistently low key that it seems unworthy of its stars’ ef forts. Pitt and Roberts overshadow a story that seems better suited for two relatively unknown actors. I Struggling to find a balance be tween the lighthearted comedic sc enes and the darker moments, this movie comes across as a hodge podge of style and tones that fail to connect. Consequently, audiences are left feeling like something is missing. Jerry (Pitt) and " Samantha (Roberts) are lovers on the outs after Jerry is forced into doing one last job for a mysterious crime boss. His job is to travel to Mexico and locate an ntique pistol called The Mexican, her finding it. Jerry is supposed to ring it to his boss. However, Saman- ha, angry because Jerry had to back ut on their plans to go to Las Vegas, ecides to make the trip alone. Jerry's mission goes predictably wrong, and things are complicated by the arrival of Leroy (James Gandolfini), a hit man who kidnaps Samantha in an ef- Ifort to give Jerry an incentive to de- 1 liver the gun on time. A large portion of the movie shows Jerry in Mexico and Saman tha spending time with Leroy in the desert outside Las Vegas. Pitt and Roberts do not spend a lot of screen time together. Part comedy, part love stoiy, part adventure, The Mexican comes across just like its hero, Jerry—bum bling, not all there, but blessed with a good heart. Much of what fails to work in this movie must be attributed to director Verbinski. whose only previous fea ture film experience was Mousehunt. Verbinski seems at a loss when it comes to pulling together all the threads of this sprawling story. The focus of the film is scattershot at best. Verbinski fails to draw together all the worlds and ideas in a convincing fashion. His efforts were probably under mined by the presence of his two stars. When they come together for their first scene, the audience expects to be blown away by their chemistry, and The Mexican was never designed to be that sort of film. In fact, it was originally designed as an ensemble piece with no clear main characters, but with big-name actors on board, the focus had to follow their stories more closely. For their part, Pitt and Roberts demonstrate a natural mid easy chem istry when they are together. Pitt plays tiie lovable loser with gusto and obvious pleasure. Roberts plays her wacky off-the-wall character with reckless abandon. Gandolfini as the philosophical hitman steals the show, however. He dominates every second he spends onscreen in what can only be called the performance of his ca reer. His character is one of the most richly layered and sympathetic char acters seen in film recently. The Mexican fails to deliver on the expectations that are sure to be creat ed by its starpower. It is, however, a fun and watchable movie and not to be dismissed, if for no other reason than Gandolfini's superb perfor mance. (Grade: C) —Matt McCormick By Matt McCormick The Battalion The Mexican is the first on-screen pairing of Hollywood megastars Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. The film, which also stars James Gandolfini, is an adventure/romantic comedy that started much smaller than it became. When director Gore Verbinski was approached about the project by its producers, Lawrence Bender and John Baldecchi, the film was an ensemble piece designed to be made cheaply and quickly. The film had not even secured domestic distribution yet. Verbinski suggested that the project be taken to DreamWorks SKG, the studio responsible for the release of his first film, Mousehunt. Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of Dream Works, agreed to make the project. The film now had distribution and a director but no cast. “Brad had read it and was hovering but non committal,” Verbinski said. “We had started scout ing for locations, and Jeffrey said, ‘Give me two weeks before you cast this away. Let me see if I can get you a movie star.’ At the end of those two weeks, he said, ‘We’re going to New York to meet Julia Roberts.’ Once Julia was in. Brad was in.” Both the producers and director were a bit sur prised they landed the stars at a reduced price. “There’s probably been a thousand scripts writ ten to tiy to get Brad and Julia to do a movie togeth er,” Verbinski said. “This one was never intended for that purpose. Maybe that is what they responded to.” Even with everything going smoothly, the cast ing process was still incomplete because Leroy, the pivotal character with whom Roberts’ character spends most of her on-screen time, was still unfilled. “I had really loved the thought of having Jean Reno for that part,” Verbinski said. “Once Julia came on, she said, ‘What about James Gandolfini?’ ” Roberts said she could not take credit for the idea because her boyfriend, Benjamin Bratt, suggested it. Gandolfini’s co-stars said they thought he was the perfect choice for the part. Gandolfini is the star of HBO’s hit show ‘The So pranos.” He has made movies for years, often show ing up in smaller roles playing killers and thugs. The similarity between his char acter in the movie and his role as Tony Soprano was part of the rea son he took the project. “I didn’t have a ton of time, so I didn’t want to do something that 1 would have to do a lot of research and change a lot of rhythms for,” Gandolfini said. He said he also took the role to work with Pitt and Roberts. Verbinski said he was slightly nervous about having such a great cast in his movie. “The first thought is that they are going to take over your movie,” Verbinski said. “That wasn’t the case because they are such real people.” He was not surprised by the three actors’ ability to work so closely, or by the chem istry between Pitt and Roberts. “As soon as I saw them together in a room, it felt like they had known each other forever. It was really good chemistry,” Verbinski said. The movie was filmed on location in Mexico and in the deserts and surrounding areas of Las Vegas, which created a unique look for the film. The sleepy Mexican village presented the pro duction crew with a lion’s share of technical challenges. Forced to drive in through a mile-and-a-half long tunnel that was barely large enough to fit a single truck through at a time, the production had no mo tor homes or any of the big rigs normally associated with a studio production. Verbinski warned his stars about the lack of amenities at the location before they arrived. “There were no Four Seasons. They were go ing to be staying in people’s homes, but the town just had such great production value)” Verbinski said. “Fortunately, by the time the studio had dis covered that we had picked this location, it was too late to change.” Pitt said he loved the location and its rich history. “The location was fantastic,” Pitt said. “There PHOTOS COURTESY OF DREAMWORKS PICTURES were no stresses, unless you were allergic to scorpi ons. It was this defunct mining town that had been there for centuries at the top of this mountain range. You took this mile-and-a-half of tunnel in and the main mode of transportation was burro. They only had one phone line until we arrived.” The shoot in Mexico was small, and only 30 American crew members were taken. The rest of the crew was hired out of Mexico City. Even the actors found themselves moving lights and help ing with the set. Gandolfini described the production as totally original. “The whole circumstance of this movie was different,” he said. Everyone involved is a little surprised by the publicity this film is generating now because, when it was shot, it was as un-Hollywood as a pro duction can be. “You turn on the TV and you see this big movie advertised called The Mexican. The movie we made was a little movie which we all just kind of dove into and had our tequila together at the end of the day. No studio, no agents, no managers, no politics.” Pitt had his own theory about the way the film was being hyped. “It’s a science of manipulation,” he said. “That’s capitalism.” more t You drink. You drive. You get pulled over. You get ^rrested. You get fingerprinted. You get photographed. You go to jail. And that’s if you're lucky enough not to have killed someone first. Save a Life” Texas Department of Transportation Drink. Drive. Go to Jail. Bob Schneider formerly of Scabs and the Ugly Americans, Bob swept the 2000 Austin Music Awards winning Musician of the Year, Best Male Vocalist, Best Songwriter, and Band of the Year* In Bryan: 754 Villa Maria in the Manor East Shopping Center (979) 823-5923 In College Station: 2004 Texas Ave. S. (979) 693-2619
