Jerry Welbach: Brad Pitt	Samantha Barzel: Julia Roberts
Leroy: James Gandolfini	Well- Dressed Black Man: Sherman Augustus
Luis: Luis Felipe Tovar	Margolis: Gene Hackman
Ted: J.K. Simmons	Nalin: Bob Balaban
Director: Gore Verbinski

30 Second Bottom Line: A couple, trying to get their act together, is given the final test when she wants to relocate to Las Vegas and he wants to do one more small time job for the mob. This crime comedy takes on the overtone of a road trip flick when the woman is kidnapped as insurance for her boyfriend to complete his mission.

Story Line: Jerry and Samantha (Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts) are a bickering couple, who live in a shabby apartment, with a handy balcony for Samantha to toss Jerry's clothes over. Jerry is a screw up, who supposedly has done his last small time job for a crime family. Nalin (Bob Balaban), the local mob boss, has given him an assignment to go to Mexico to bring back a gun, which has so much history that it could be in the Smithsonian Museum. This is deemed to be a simple task, which even Jerry should be able to handle. Since Jerry botched his last job, he is told that he either does this one right or they will kill him. Samantha seems to have trouble accepting this explanation.

Jerry goes to Mexico to retrieve the gun, which was made over 100 years ago by a local gunsmith, as a special present to a man, whose son he wanted to marry his daughter. If Jerry is not actively screwing something up, he simply knows how to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so he ends up in trouble, even though he is on his very best behavior. Before you know it, a dead body is in his rental car, that is subsequently stolen, which puts a gang on his trail.

Back in the US, Nalin, a mysterious black man (Sherman Augustus) and Leroy (James Gandolfini) complicate matters. Leroy has kidnapped Samantha and the well-dressed black man wants to kill her. What transpires is a film of two road movies, one with Samantha and Leroy and the other with Jerry trying to evade the gang in Mexico. Eventually, Samantha and Jerry reunite, but will he finally be free of his life of crime to settle down with the woman he loves?

Tell Me More About It: When dealing with the uneducated and the lower levels of society, hearing the "f" word for things other than friends, family, fate, forgiveness and forever does not surprise or insult me. Still, because this is supposed to be a light-hearted comedy, by definition of the fact that Julia Roberts is in it, I found its use was close to gratuitous. Although Erin Brokovich was R rated, it did not feel that way. This film is like HBO's Sopranos (in which Gandolfini stars), without the soap opera segues getting us ready for the next episode.

If you've seen Snatch, with Brad Pitt, The Mexican is very much along the same lines. The plot makes no real sense, which is intended. You are following some goofy characters around who use foul language and manage to get themselves into lots of trouble, where people are hurt or killed. Pitt was funnier in Snatch because he generated the humor within his own character rather than as a bantering foil for Julia Roberts.

Julia is no hero here nor is anyone else in the film. She is not a savior as in Brokovich, and while many will like it, they'll probably understand why the producers wanted to keep the budget under $40 million, which required big salary cuts by Pitt and Roberts. For that I admire them, as they know this will likely not generate a $100 million box office. If you are looking for a comedy with an edge, the gringos deliver.

Brad Pitt: Snatch	Julia Roberts: Erin Brockovich
James Gandolfini: 8 MM	Sherman Augustus: Virus
Luis Felipe Tovar: Such is Life	Gene Hackman: The Replacements
J.K. Simmons: The Gift	Bob Balaban: Best in Show
Gore Verbinski: Mouse Hunt