SUE’S REVIEWS: MORTDECAI “Mortdecai” is a 107 minute R-Rated Action/Comedy directed by David Koepp starring Johnny Depp (Mortdecai), Olivia Munn (Georgina Krampf), Ewan McGregor (Inspector Martland), Jeff Goldblum (Krampf), Gwyneth Paltrow (Johanna Mortdecai) and Paul Bettany (Jock Strapp). This movie is adapted from the comic thriller novels, The Mortdecai Trilogy, written by Kyril Bonfiglioni in the 1970s. Charles Mortdecai is a flamboyant British, shady art- dealer who is facing bankruptcy. He becomes an inept “secret agent” who finds himself on the trail of a valuable stolen painting which supposedly contains the code which will lead to hidden Nazi fortune. He travels from London to Moscow to Los Angeles in a race- against- time to prevent the painting from being retrieved by international terrorists and to claim the money himself. Along the way, Mortdecai must deal with, and outmaneuver, the British Mi5, angry Russians, an international terrorist and his domineering, conniving wife, Johanna. My favorite Johnny Depp movie is “Edward Scissorhands” (1990) and his most successful lucrative role has been Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. I am mortified to even mention “Mortdecai” in the same breath as those great films. “Mortdecai” has been described as a slap- stick farce but I prefer to call it a ridiculously silly movie. It brings to mind two questions- was Johnny Depp ever good at all and, if so, how has he sunken to such depths? He has had several recent box- office flops and I predict this movie will be the latest addition on that list. “Mortdecai” is a totally unfunny attempt at comedy which fails in spite of its all-star cast (which only proves that in Hollywood, you don’t always get what you pay for). The plot is neither fresh nor original and Depp’s contrived accent (once again) is more annoying than British. I could not understand half of what he was saying (which is probably a good thing) and I did not care about the rest. The gags and play-on-words (even his man servant’s name “Jock Strapp”) are cliché and juvenile. This film will do nothing to enhance the resume of any of the actors . There is a fourth sequel planned for the “Pirates” franchise in 2017. I suggest that Johnny Depp refrain from movie-making until then (unless someone wants to cast him sooner as Keith Richards in a biopic). I give “Mortdecai” a 3.5 on the ABBONDANZOMETER (Scale of 1-10).
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 19:25:57 +0000
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