The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 02, 2001, Image 3

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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
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The Mexican
Starring Brad Pitt
and Julia Roberts
Directed by.GoreVerbinski
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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