Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are two of the most talented and attractive actors in the world. They come together for the first time in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's new film, The Tourist, a spy thriller that releases in India this Friday.
Reviews so far haven't been optimistic, however. We take a look at what some of America's top critics are saying about the film, and ending with a review on an optimistic note. Read on.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
'It doesn't matter that the plot is absurd. That goes with the territory. But if it's not going to be nonstop idiotic action, then the acting and dialogue need a little style and grace and kidding around. Jolie plays her femme fatale with flat-out, drop-dead sexuality. Depp plays his Wisconsin math teacher as a man waiting for the school bell to ring so he can go bowling. The other actors are concealed in the shadows of their archetypes. Cary Grant would have known how to treat a lady.'
'The Tourist deserves burial at the bottom of the 2010 dung heap'
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
'In a year of craptaculars, The Tourist deserves burial at the bottom of the 2010 dung heap. It offers talented people trapped in creative inertia. A microscope and a search party could not discover any trace of chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. They look like a couple who took too many Ambien tabs on a jet trip to Venice, leaving them dazed and slack-jawed when they finally get to the city of canals. Of course, one of them falls in. The movie is already all wet.'
'Jolie plays an overdressed, humorless live-action version of Jessica Rabbit'
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
''You are the least down-to-earth person I've ever met,' someone tells Angelina Jolie's character, in what may be the understatement of the century.
'In the dud thriller 'The Tourist,' Jolie basically plays an overdressed, humorless live-action version of Jessica Rabbit, running around Venice dodging hired killers. Jolie, who oddly never picks up a gun, is joined in boring chases through the canals and over the rooftops by Johnny Depp with whom she has no romantic chemistry whatsoever, no matter how many passionless kisses they share.'
'It has some things going for it, but not enough for a wholehearted recommendation'
James Berardinelli, Reelviews
'The Tourist never escapes from the web of mediocrity that ensnares it. As pointless diversions go, it has some things going for it, but not enough for a wholehearted recommendation. Those who want Hitchcock are better with the real thing -- pale substitutes like this one merely italicize how special the legendary director was.'
'The movie will leave some viewers scratching their heads'
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline.com
'The Tourist is one of those movies that will leave some viewers scratching their heads, wondering why there isn't more action, more snazzy editing, more obvious crackle between its stars, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.
'But I suspect the people who get The Tourist will simply adore it: It's the kind of espionage caper that doesn't get made anymore, a visually sensuous picture made with tender attention to detail and an elegant, understated sense of humor. In style and construction, its spiritual godfather is Stanley Donen's Charade; thematically, its fairy godmother is Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve. If it were a drink, it would be a Bellini, fizzy and sweet and dry all at the same time.'
Comment
article