The Mexican
Directed by Gore Verbinski
- action
- comedy
- crime
- romance
The story
Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman, has been given two ultimatums: The first is from his mob boss to travel to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique pistol, known as "the Mexican"... or suffer the consequences. The second is from his girlfriend Samantha to end his association with the mob. Jerry figures alive and in trouble with Samantha is better than the more permanent alternative, so he heads south of the border.
What it’s like
Warm, sun-bleached road-movie color: Mexican desert highways under hard afternoon light, dusty motel rooms, and the glossy, saturated greens and oranges of early-2000s studio photography, with Los Angeles rendered in cooler, harsher daylight. Gore Verbinski's camera moves with brisk, playful energy, quick cuts and whip pans that keep scenes bouncing, while the score is jaunty and percussive, with mariachi-tinged guitar and light jazzy swing rather than menace. The overall vibe is breezy and wry, a romantic caper with an undercurrent of nervous, low-level danger. It suits a lazy Saturday, a comfort rewatch, or an easy watch on a long-haul flight. Its pacing is brisk and its tone is comic and affectionate, following a jittery, self-deprecating man and the woman who keeps pulling him back toward a safer life, with a sharp comic turn from a hitman who steals every scene. Violence is present but mostly brief and cartoonish, with a few sudden shootings and a kidnapping sequence that stays more tense than brutal; there is some strong language and sexual innuendo but no sustained gore. It is for people who want a funny, lightly violent romance with a road-trip spine and no emotional heaviness.
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