EyezRating: 1/5 Stars
Cast: Johnny Depp (Charlie Mortdecai), Gwyneth Paltrow (Johanna Mortdecai), Ewan McGregor (Inspector Martland), Olivia Munn (Georgina Krampf), Paul Bettany (Jock Strapp), Jonny Pasvolsky (Emil Strago), Ulrich Thomsen (Romanov) and Paul Whitehouse (Spinoza)
Director: David Koepp
Synopsis: Charlie Mortdecai is a charming art dealer who gallivants around the world where art aficionados live. He and wife Johanna struggle to make ends meet so he sells art pieces and oftentimes, screw buyers. This has put him into a lot of trouble until he could not escape any longer. His journey ends riotous while trying to recover a swiped painting that is said to be the key to a place where the Nazi gold is left hidden.
Review:
Johnny Depp’s glorious career might have been assassinated in this recent action-comedy film written by Eric Aronson and carelessly directed by David Koepp. Mortdecai, a movie adapted from Kyril Bonfiglioli’s book anthology titled Don’t Point That Thing at Me, has done a marvellous job tainting credentials of some of the big stars we know. We’re not only talking about Johnny Depp. The list includes series of credible stars such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Olivia Munn and Ewan McGregor.
So what went wrong?
Obviously, the nonsensical plot is so strong that it darkens the glitter of its stellar cast. Despite Director Koepp’s attempt to rescue the film from the critics’ dead on arrival prediction, the effort seems to lack power. Many of you would recognise his brilliant work as a screenwriter for magnificent films such as War of the Worlds and Spider Man but it appears that his artistic genius abandons him at the very first sight of comedy. Koepp’s creativity strikes when he tries to inject laughter all over the scene but the odds are against him, or could it be that the actor’s curled moustache is not enough to tickle the audiences’ meticulous taste of humour?
Perhaps, the team has placed extreme confidence to Depp’s ability to touch this kind of genre and that’s where things have started to spiral out of control for Mortdecai. This only proves that putting on weird costumes and emulating peculiar accent are not a way to the moviegoers’ hearts. Thankfully though, McGregor and Paltrow display an impressive chemistry which might be the only thing worthy to be celebrated in this film. That sounds bad, isn’t it?
Mortdecai has missed so many shining moments that could turn the film from demise into a stunning surprise. The comedy tricks are horrendous when they are supposed to be funny and the dreadful run of staying until the credit rolls is like succumbing into an unforgivably tiring, half-baked story.
Painfully rotten and incomprehensibly flat, Mortdecai is a disaster that any terrific actors wouldn’t want to be in. It is heartbreaking to see Depp disappoint in a big way especially that it lags behind the box office record. Most Captain Jack Sparrow fans would wish that it was just a nightmare but the brutally honest ones would know. It’s a crappy comedy at its finest.
Jason Harris
Rob Jefchak
