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Johnny Depp looks even sillier in Mortdecai than he does here.
D+Johnny Depp channels the vintage British comic actor Terry-Thomas in his latest comedy, Mortdecai. Doubtless, that name will not ring a bell with most of Depp’s followers, but even a Thomas fan like myself kept thinking over and over how much better the real Terry-Thomas, or even Richard Thomas for that matter, would have been in the role.
Depp plays Lord Charlie Mortdecai, a British nobleman who’s also a cad, a drunk, a cheat, a coward, a nearly bankrupt spendthrift but, fortunately for the needs of the movie, an art expert willing to help out Her Majesty’s Government in the person of Alistair Martland (Ewan McGregor). The plot revolves around a stolen Goya masterpiece that also contains the Swiss bank account number of a missing Nazi fortune, so it’s of interest to lots of bad guys. What’s of interest to Martland is Charlie’s wife Johanna (Gwyneth Paltrow), an old flame, and Johanna isn’t all that enamored of Charlie’s new mustache.
Mortdecai is a dreadful misfire on many levels. Its main running joke is Johanna’s throwing up whenever she gets close to Charlie’s mustache, which isn’t remotely funny the first time it appears in the film, let alone the tenth. However, the mustache gag is only one of a number of R-rated dismal toilet humor jokes in the film. The plot is ridiculously complicated, and the movie contains several pointless chase scenes that are neither funny or exciting. Worst of all, Depp appears more interested in proving to himself that he can impersonate Terry-Thomas than creating a humorous character.
Continue reading on Mortdecai: Mini-Review
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