......starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp and thought it was a bad movie.
It's a romantic comedy/crime thriller featuring two bankable, big stars; however for my wife and me, it failed.
The Link
Spoilers ahead:
Their acting wasn't so bad, but we thought the screenplay and the movie's direction provided little to work with that was worth their artistic effort or our watching time.
Johnny's performance initially suggests a bemused Cary Grant or a confused Jimmy Stewart a la Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" and "The Man Who Knew To Much."
But Depp's portrayal is never as suave as Grant or obliging enough to emulate Stewart.
In what could have worked OK as a sophisticated, witty, sexy, exciting, dramatic comedy, Depp, instead, plays his part too straight (even maddeningly morose) as his character's supposed history (a recently widowed math teacher on vacation) would seem to require.
That pretty much doomed this movie for me.
A little hint of something else here, before all was finally revealed later, could have added some interest.
But that didn't happen.
Despite Angelina looking beautiful and sexy, this movie featured no nudity and no physical sex beyond a little kissing.
Miss Jolie did do credit, appearance-wise, to Alfred Hitchcock's three time use of Grace Kelly in "Dial M for Murder," "Rear Window" and the aforementioned "To Catch A Thief" and to Audrey Hepburn playing Holly Golightly for director Blake Edwards.
There was Paris and later Venice, plus a scenic train ride between those locations.
That's when Jolie's enigmatic character "Elise" chooses Depp's touristy "Frank" as a traveling companion to help her mislead the various agents on her trail.
And that's about all the "good" stuff I have to report.
For me, the rest of the movie consisted of every other cliche this film genre's ever used, being used badly.
And very slowly.
Even a desperate motor boat escape through the famous Venetian canals happens at towing speed.
It's all so slow moving, very vague and too cliched.
In the end, there are plot twists revealing who Jolie and Depp's characters really are and what's been going on, but that came too late for us.
You may remember The Beatles' second film, "Help!," in which Ringo Starr becomes a human sacrificial target because of a jeweled ring that's stuck on his finger?
Well, that's a "similar" flick which "The Tourist" cogitated up from my memory banks.
"Help!" was an entertaining Richard Lester directed, musical farce, as expected and planned, with the Fab Four running away (between their song performances) from screaming female fans and scimitar swinging enemies, while a mysterious, veiled femme fatale figure now and again appears, whispering something to Paul, John or George, before solemnly intoning, "I can say no more...."
IMHO, in "The Tourist," any comparable movie-making was lethargic, disappointing and only absurdly laughable, thus I recommend you should probably pick a better flick to watch.
Anyone else seen it?
It's a romantic comedy/crime thriller featuring two bankable, big stars; however for my wife and me, it failed.
The Link
Spoilers ahead:
Their acting wasn't so bad, but we thought the screenplay and the movie's direction provided little to work with that was worth their artistic effort or our watching time.
Johnny's performance initially suggests a bemused Cary Grant or a confused Jimmy Stewart a la Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" and "The Man Who Knew To Much."
But Depp's portrayal is never as suave as Grant or obliging enough to emulate Stewart.
In what could have worked OK as a sophisticated, witty, sexy, exciting, dramatic comedy, Depp, instead, plays his part too straight (even maddeningly morose) as his character's supposed history (a recently widowed math teacher on vacation) would seem to require.
That pretty much doomed this movie for me.
A little hint of something else here, before all was finally revealed later, could have added some interest.
But that didn't happen.
Despite Angelina looking beautiful and sexy, this movie featured no nudity and no physical sex beyond a little kissing.
Miss Jolie did do credit, appearance-wise, to Alfred Hitchcock's three time use of Grace Kelly in "Dial M for Murder," "Rear Window" and the aforementioned "To Catch A Thief" and to Audrey Hepburn playing Holly Golightly for director Blake Edwards.
There was Paris and later Venice, plus a scenic train ride between those locations.
That's when Jolie's enigmatic character "Elise" chooses Depp's touristy "Frank" as a traveling companion to help her mislead the various agents on her trail.
And that's about all the "good" stuff I have to report.
For me, the rest of the movie consisted of every other cliche this film genre's ever used, being used badly.
And very slowly.
Even a desperate motor boat escape through the famous Venetian canals happens at towing speed.
It's all so slow moving, very vague and too cliched.
In the end, there are plot twists revealing who Jolie and Depp's characters really are and what's been going on, but that came too late for us.
You may remember The Beatles' second film, "Help!," in which Ringo Starr becomes a human sacrificial target because of a jeweled ring that's stuck on his finger?
Well, that's a "similar" flick which "The Tourist" cogitated up from my memory banks.
"Help!" was an entertaining Richard Lester directed, musical farce, as expected and planned, with the Fab Four running away (between their song performances) from screaming female fans and scimitar swinging enemies, while a mysterious, veiled femme fatale figure now and again appears, whispering something to Paul, John or George, before solemnly intoning, "I can say no more...."
IMHO, in "The Tourist," any comparable movie-making was lethargic, disappointing and only absurdly laughable, thus I recommend you should probably pick a better flick to watch.
Anyone else seen it?
