Mortdecai - Der Teilzeitgauner

I was moved to write my first ever IMDb review because of the amount of derision heaped on this film by mainly American reviewers. This mountain of vitriol almost stopped me from going to see the film; how glad I am that I stuck to my decision to see it! Johnny Depp, for me, is always good value, and is an actor who seems to be unafraid of challenging not only himself but we, the audience, too. His portrayal of Charlie Mortdecai was based not so much on Ralph Fiennes' M.Gustave, but more on characters from The Fast Show and various Upper Class Twits from the classic Monty Python sketch. Indeed, as a massive fan of The Fast Show (he appeared in the final episode) I'm fairly sure that Mr Depp had some influence in securing the comic genius of Paul Whitehouse to play Spinoza. After reading the host of bad reviews I entered the cinema with some trepidation, but was rewarded with a well-written, smoothly-directed, fast-paced concoction which ticked plenty of boxes for me; I did start to wonder if I was watching the same film that some other reviewers watched. Perhaps the humour was just "too English" for some of our friends in the "far colonies"! Please don't be put off by the large number of bad reviews; Mortdecai was well worth the price of entry!

People have described it as a bit of Pink Panther thing. Which I guess will be OK for Johnny Depp. Because it's not far off and maybe the Captain Jack Sparrow comparisons will stop (probably not, but you can always hope can't you?). One thing is for sure, comedy is always something that will and can divide people easily. What some consider hilarious others will just dismiss as bad or annoying (or maybe something worse).

The mustache jokes will either delight you or not, but we do have a lot of adult situations here, even without going too far down that drain/road. Paltrow relishing in her role as is Law, who can relax for once and sit back and be somebody else (read: not that confident guy). It's a light affair (no pun intended), but if you are willing to let your guard down, you can have fun with it

Adapted from the book anthology by the same name written by Kyril Bonfiglioli, 'Mortdecai' is silly fun! Though never hilarious, this recent box-office disappoint isn't entirely bad either.

'Mortdecai' Synopsis: Juggling angry Russians, the British Mi5, and an international terrorist, debonair art dealer and part time rogue Charlie Mortdecai races to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain a code that leads to lost Nazi gold.

'Mortdecai' needed more wit & humor, no doubt. But what is served in this action-comedy, isn't unbearable. Some of it actually works, as the bumbling protagonist gets into a series of wacky moments. Even the supporting characters are fairly appealing. But, in totality, I wanted to laugh more.

Eric Aronson's Screenplay is continuously silly & on-track, but not foolproof. David Koepp's Direction is impressive. So is the Cinematography. The Editing, however, lacks sharpness. Costume Design & Action-Sequences, are fair.

Performance-Wise: Johnny Depp as Mortdecai, is in good goofy mode. The versatile actor seems to be enjoying himself, although his talent is much above a film such as this. Ewan McGregor is first-rate. Gwyneth Paltrow looks aged & tired here. Paul Bettany has his moments. Olivia Munn is seductive. Jeff Goldblum appears in a cameo.

On the whole, 'Mortdecai' won't make you fall of your seat with laughter, nor will it want you to pull your hair in anger. Its strictly a one-time watch.

Seriously, I can't believe how upset people are with this movie; I couldn't even breathe anymore as I walked out of the theater after laughing a lot! Yeah the jokes are stupid, the acting is over-the-top, the story isn't that brilliant and there isn't any deep sh*t plot twist but really, who watches comedy and expect something that will make them contemplate about life??? In terms of entertainment, this movie certainly delivers... Unless of course you're a frigging hipster who can't appreciate any movie that doesn't f*ck your brains out. Come on, Birdman for instance received a lot of good feedback but it's not that funny -- it's just deep. And artsy. It seems the trend these days; if a movie's storyline is plain enough for the layman to understand, these know-it-all guys will say it's horrible, waste of time, blah blah...

There's a lot of movies far worse than this and I don't understand all the hate on this one; probably because it stars Johnny Depp (who was amazing as always, by the way) and they just expect too much. Whatever! Loosen up, guys!

Mortdecai is a good movie with a well written plot and a terrific comedic cast. The chemistry between the cast members is without a doubt what makes it so enjoyable for me. Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor all have great individual chemistry with one another, I particularly liked how Depp and Bettany played off each other. They all fit in to this universe very naturally and effectively.

The humour did have its weaknesses, it had far too many running gags that it kept going back to, despite not being all that funny in the first place. Particularly the constant jokes about Mortdecai's moustache were quite repetitive.

The characters are also underdeveloped, we learn significantly little about them prior to their adventure beginning. I definitely would like to have learned more about Mortdecai and Johanna's marriage, as well as Jock's personal life.

It aims to be a very different, unique comedy, it's style and pacing is not typical, while many people will not agree with me, I thought it achieved this. While it is flawed, Mortdecai is great fun and worth the watch if you are looking for a good comedy, just do not go out pf your way to see it.

An art dealer rushes to find a valuable painting before it gets in to the wrong hands.

Best Performance: Johnny Depp / Worst Performance: Olivia Munn