If you are part of the anti-Johnny Depp brigade — convinced that Jack Sparrow, the Mad Hatter, Barnabas Collins and Tonto were all the same performance (though they aren’t) — then, yes, you will hate David Koepp’s Mortdecai and should not bother with it. Those who do not subscribe to those beliefs might, however, want to consider it. Personally, I liked it a great deal. Though it isn’t going to be to every taste, it most certainly is not the abomination it’s been painted as — sometimes by writers who had yet to bother seeing it before pronouncing sentence on it. You may not like it, but it’s hardly the worst movie ever made. It isn’t even anywhere near the worst movie released this month.
I found Mortdecai to be a most congenial companion for the two hours I spent in its company. I freely admit that it is something of an oddity. It’s styled like a 1960s to early 1970s caper comedy or a spy spoof, which has led to a lot of wrongheaded comparisons to the Austin Powers movies — and it’s nothing like them. The sense of humor is much more subdued and sophisticated, which may be out of joint with the times. It was immediately preceded by the trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine 2, which is perhaps a better barometer of our age — even if it did prompt my wife to whisper, “Please tell me that was a gag and not a real movie.” (She can be so naive.) The film trades in a type of silliness we are no longer used to seeing, but which would be at home on a double bill with What’s New, Pussycat? (1965).
Depp is playing a variation on Brit character comedian Terry-Thomas — famous for the gap in his teeth and for playing supercilious bounders, cads and rotters in a manner almost too English to be English. The problem with this is I’ve had to explain who Terry-Thomas was to four out of the four people I’ve talked to about the movie. And the number of reviewers who don’t mention the obvious model — seizing on the inapt comparison to Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau character instead — suggests the lack of familiarity with Terry-Thomas doesn’t end there. Whether or not that actually makes a significant difference to how you’ll feel about Mortdecai is another matter. It does, however, help explain how so many critics seem perplexed — even bewildered — by the film — as if they’ve never seen a movie pre-1980, which I suppose is possible.
Charlie Mortdecai (Depp) is a thoroughly disreputable art dealer and a fairly dissolute member of the British upper class. He’s also very pleased with himself and dearly loves his affectations — his latest being a particularly unbecoming (if not downright repellent) mustache that causes wife Johanna (Gwyneth Paltrow) to gag. In addition to this, I should add that he’s not only broke, but in debt to the British government for ₤8 million in taxes. Enter MI5 agent Martland (Ewan McGregor), who is a “friend” of Mortdecai (though they seem to cordially detest each other) and also transparently in love with Johanna. Armed with a bulging file of Charlie’s dubious dealings and the tax bill for leverage, Martland blackmails Charlie into helping recover a stolen Goya.
There’s a very convoluted plot here involving Asian gangsters, Russian gangsters, shady art dealers, a filthy rich (and unscrupulous) L.A. art collector (Jeff Golblum), his nymphomaniac daughter (Olivia Munn) and even a terrorist. But none of this matters much — nor does the business of the numbers to Herman Goering’s Swiss bank accounts. There’s a mystery element that can be cracked early on by anyone familiar with the genre, too, but it’s all just an excuse for Depp, Paltrow, McGregor and an impossibly good Paul Bettany (as Charlie’s stolid manservant, Jock) to prove their comic mettle.
Depp’s Charlie Mortdecai is an unusual creation. Despite attempts to link him to Sellers’ Clouseau, the connection is more than tenuous. Charlie is a bumbler, yes, but he’s not oblivious to the fact. He knows he’s a coward and doesn’t pretend otherwise. He’s even dimly aware that his wife supplies the brains and his manservant provides his courage — at least when Charlie isn’t accidentally shooting him. He even relies on Jock to constantly assure him that everything will work out in the end — despite the fact that he never gets that assurance. Charlie is vain and petty. This is a man whose idea of a great victory is tricking Martland into drinking bargain basement port — and having him praise it. He’d like to be a lecher, but he’s just not very good at it — unlike the amazingly priapic Jock. The others offer reasonably sane balance, especially Paltrow, though McGregor’s Martland is capable of being just as petty and just as much a failed lecher as Depp’s Charlie. Bettany’s deadpan Jock is not only Charlie’s backbone, but the film’s.
Does it all work? No, but that actually makes it even more of a piece with the kind of scattershot comedy it emulates. And like those films, enough of the gags hit their marks to render the misses pretty irrelevant. Of course, as things stand now, Mortdecai is a huge box office and critical flop — the sort of situation that the real Terry-Thomas might have assessed with a terse, “Oh, hard cheese.” However, Mortdecai strikes me as the sort of film whose reputation will only improve with the passage of time. But that remains to be seen. Rated R for some language and sexual material.
Sounds good. I always wondered if Terry-Thomas picked his own character’s names or if it was the writers. He reminded me of W.C. Fields and his wonderful character names.
As I note, it’s not perfect. There’s an extended puke gag that’s at odds with the rest of the film — and it serves no really useful function either. (These presupposes the vague possibility that a puke gag actually could be useful.) But all in all…if you’re interested, be fast. My guess is that after its contractually obligatory second week, it will be gone.
Sounds like fun to me, but then again, I’m the guy that enjoyed HUDSON HAWK.
My memory of that is too vague to say, but I remember not disliking it.
I maintain that it was just too damn weird for an audience expecting Bruce Willis in DIE HARD mode.
Strange no mention was made of Mortdecai’s progenitor – Kyril Bonfiglioli. An author with flashes of genius. If nothing else, read “For All the Tea in China”. Warning: his jokes may be too subtle for today’s graduates.
The review was already longer than it was supposed to be, and since I’ve never read the books there wasn’t much I could say about him.
Fair enough. But I’m sure your life will be enriched if you cared to make good this deficiency!
And that is not outside the realm of probabilities.
I have just seen Mortdecai on a random afternoon whim to break out of the grind with a friend of mine and we LOVED it. We laughed the whole way thru – and I get the puke gag if you’re a girl who hates mustaches . . . but we couldn’t get over the absolutely brilliant, razor sharp dialogue that is so dense you really do have to pay strict attention. But we like those types of movies! We both said we want to see it again so we can take notes and steal some of the one liners for daily circulation. The cinematography was unusual, it had extra sharp contrast and the sets particularly in London were so fantastic. We enjoyed, glad we packed our passport for a random afternoon romp with Depp and Co. I think most people, esp Americans just won’t get it. I even really appreciated the mechanic, his facial expressions were so lively.
Thanks for your perspective, we agree!
You’re welcome. Actually, the puke gag I was talking about wasn’t gagging at the mustache, but the tainted food at the party business and Paul Bettany being violently unwell in the car.
If you want to catch a second time, I wouldn’t wait too long. Chances of it lasting more than another week are slim.
Puke Gag; I know, but I guess that we could see the continuity of it and silliness. It was ridiculous. It’s supposed to be.
Replay: Yeah, we may have to wait for Netflix to lift the wit, but that’s ok b/c I’ll probably have to pause it.
It’s jam packed. I felt like nearly every word had impact, which is unusual. Subtle but fast paced. And I really agree about your assessment of Charlie’s role, the barfing was just another chance for him to be ‘all that’.
I don’t understand why it has been reviewed so harshly.
I thought it was kind of strange that everybody, seemingly, decided this was an awful movie weeks before its release, and based on the box office figures I’m skeptical that most of those still mocking it have even seen it.
Your review convinced me to give it a shot, though, regardless of how unhip Depp seems to have unfairly become.
It’s happening all over again with the release of the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending on the 6th. One audience at Sundance was cool toward it and now people are already writing it off as a failure. Not only is Sundance — where people mostly go to see low-budget indies in need of distributors — hardly the venue for a big-budget, self-described “space opera,” but we’re only talking about one screening.
I went to see this film yesterday. I guess I am in the minority, but I thought parts of it were hysterical! Hardly as bad as most of the other critics are judging it. I guess more is expected of Depp and the other actors?? I guess it just depends on your sense of humor and how much you want to over think it in my opinion…..
Or underthink it perhaps.
Well, though we tried — and its numbers were better at two shows a day than The Loft was at five shows — but it departs The Carolina at least on Friday. No word on other theaters yet.
I was fortunate enough to see it twice and I LOVED it. I was looking for something light-hearted and funny and was not let down. I will definitely buy it when it comes out. I do think I see what Missy was saying about people over thinking it. IF all the critics actually watched the movie and are not just jumping on the trashing bandwagon, I can only assume that they were too busy with their own expectations to enjoy it.
I like the film a lot and will almost certainly buy it, too. But I have a basic issue with the “overthinking” idea — which is first cousin to “check your brain at the door.” If people writing about the film had thought about it at all, they’d have realized they weren’t really looking at the film, but looking for reasons to hate Depp’s latest — and doing so by making claims that don’t stand up to scrutiny. (The Clouseau business is demonstrably off-base.)
Thanks for this review! Saw it today and laughed the whole way through. Completely enjoyable. Would love a sequel tho that’s not likely. Depp totally nailed the Terry Thomas-type character. I’ll likely read the books now.
I’ve seriously considered giving the books a try.
I’m so glad I found this article. Loved this movie – giggled throughout. So did the person with me and others in the theater. Glad to see there are others who also found it funny and entertaining. The nastiness towards Mr. Depp right now is somewhat disconcerting. I’d hate to see him disappear; although I wouldn’t blame him if he decided he had better things to do than put up with the cheap banter. He’s such a lovely actor – and I’m not talking about his physical appearance. If Hollywood exists 50 years from now, they will give him a posthumous award and wonder what was wrong with the people in our day.
We are pretty much of the same mind here concerning Mr. Depp. It will not mean anything to those engaged in tearing him down, but I’ll be interested to see if the public beats a path to the next Pirates.