Gordon & Barbara in Paris

Gordon & Barbara in Paris
Here's Looking at YOU

Friday, December 17, 2010

THE TOURIST

THE TOURIST--directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp/ 1hr 43min - ‎Rated PG-13

(B) Again Gordon has done his review before me and he does drive me nuts because once he makes up his mind, he won’t budge. Jolie is gorgeous, granted, but in Hollywood they are a dime a dozen. She draws attention to herself by her lifestyle, living outside the box. Jennifer Aniston knows more about comedy than Jolie will ever know. A successful series
called, “Friends” comes to mind and PLEASE Cher in Burlesque a no-nod, in comedy and Jolie is? Jolie’s nomination for best actress in a comedy is what is funny. Come on, people, really! This film was light entertainment starring two popular beautiful people at best. One and a half binoculars for me, because I like to look at beautiful things.

(G) I am a big Angelina Jolie fan, partly because she’s a great actress, partly because she’s gorgeous and partly because it seems to drive Barbara nuts—my lovely wife will never forgive Angelina for stealing Brad away from Jennifer Aniston (an actress I find to be greatly overrated). In all honesty though, there have only been a few times when I could say that the whole Jolie package really came together for me. She was O.K. in the Lara Croft series, but let’s face it. She was merely portraying a video-game heroine in that one. While many consider The Good Shepherd or Alexander noteworthy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and her work as the voice of the Master Tigress in Kung Fu Panda are by far her most successful films. I think she was robbed of well-deserved accolades for her performance in Changeling but her performance in The Tourist, did not even raise her heart rate. Both she and Depp appear bored with the whole thing. Each seems to be merely going through the motions of acting in this one. The movie is not completely disappointing, but it comes about as close to failure as anything with this caliber of stars. I did not like the camera work and think that a little post-production could have gone a long way to satisfy me, at least, on a travelogue level. You would think that Paris and Venice would make great backdrops for any spy-thriller, but the shooting schedule must have not had “clear and sunny days” as a priority. Every outdoor scene is shot on a cloudy day, making some of the most spectacular scenery in the world look brown and about as bored as the two main actors. It was as if the shooting schedule didn’t call for more than one take, or waiting until the sun came out. They had Jolie and Depp and that was enough. If that is enough for you—and I realize that this may well be enough for a lot of people-- then you will not hate this film, but you’ll likely not feel it was very good either. I can only give The Tourist two binoculars, one for each star.




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