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Show MARCH WASATCH COUNTY COURIER 7, 2001 | | | Mention this ad and receive — two-far-one desserts Tuesday, Weed, and Tiatteday.: REVIEW Brad & _ oe commitment. billing “in a deserve what Ae get Mexican: Jn. this. inflated and ramble pou picture, they. share that. billing and lit- tle. | else. But they. also. must. Shoulder TLE Ce ELL 8. UO RRE OE Ro ee eee ble for. an. ‘inferior. screenplay to ‘be made into a forgettable. film on. the now dubious. assumption that their inevitable, . combustible eS collision would strike an inferno at the box, olfice.. | a ing 3 | IN THE HISTORIC TRADITIONAL COMFORT COZY ATMOSPHERE LANDMARK OF INNG BUILDING. | Books 4« Cards generous, you can Unige sion with the car of a Mafiosi; named. Margolese in a Los Angeles intersection, whose drug stashi in the auto was discovered by police. Now it’s payback time and Jerry’s a mob errand ‘boy, Your neighborhood book store. 4 Located right in the heart of Heber Valley! io “A Store With Book Sense.” But Verbinski doesn’t —435- 651-BOOK — mind using | the device = | 103 to introduce Sam to < East Main | =e Utah S oe © Monday. Saturday, 110 am- a PMs < él ames | Gandolfini, | reprising his role in HBO’s “The | Sopranos’— with romanticized mob a.__ twist.) Crouching by the-toi- have _ Julia and Brad as Sam and Jerry The Mexican. eventually merely commonplace—on. the big screen. What little wit and chutzpah that Tarantino brought to bear in the early going have been diluted in a steady stream of derivative pictures, ranging from Natural Born Killers (1984) to 3,000 Miles to Graceland (2001). But blood and braggadocio— continue to run amok (or, in this case, amuck.). Screenwriter J. H. Wyman and director Gore Verbinski (Vouse Hunt) appear confident that they’re adding © new ingredients to the formula in The Mexican: A hallowed weapon, a tender. mobster, a venerable old crime lord (Gene Hackman in a tawdry, little uncredited role), whose life is in prison by the modern embodiment of an ancient Mexican folk tale, a vicious but loyal stray dog, and, at the center, a squabbling cou| ple, whose long distance estrange-_ ment is supposed to make their hearts — (and ours) grow fonder. — The brawling pair, Pitt’s Jerry aad Roberts’ Samantha (Sam), have a balcony scene early in the movie that is notmeant to remind anyone of Romeo and Juliet. With Sam above and Jerry below, she bombards him with clothing, furniture and personal effects. He tries to fend off her verbal and physi- cal missiles with that trademark shrug and shimmy that. Pitt uses to lay women in the aisles. But Samantha is just getting started. From her point of view, Jerry's a romantic slacker. His planned trip to Mexico to retrieve a handcrafted, legendary pistola at the in let in her stall in the women’s room off the food court of a Las Vegas mall, Sam is ei with blood from beefy hit-— man Leroy’s shooting of a well-dressed © rival. Having beaten him to the punch ~ in the Kidnapping Sweepstakes, Leroy appears to pump him full of holes. However, Abductor No. 2 turns up later in the movie, healthy as you please, and we know Leroy will have to plug him again, Wouldn’t you know it—Sam gets a ringside seat to this shooting, as well. oe and no, out of Leroy that he is gay, and that he can’t seem to maintain a steady affiliation with any of his lovers. Strange as it may seem, these scenes between Sam and Leroy ring truer emotionally than anything in the picture. Had Verbinski had the moxie to explore the uncomfortable tension between a killer’s profession and his personal life, he might have opened an interesting can of worms. Instead, Leroy comes off as a sensitive | sociopath. As for Sam, she just compartmentalizes her eyewitness closeups of the killings somewhere inside her pretty, little head, and when she’s feeling blue, the mobster has a broad shoulder to cry on. Before it’s over, even Jerry will learn to pull the trigger guiltlessly. Ain’t love wonderful? CooKiNe SPICES | Buy One Ge OneFree “ORncanic CorTTON T’s BaGS& APRONS Up to 50% Off DECO RATIVE EASTER BASKET CLASS this isn’t your stereotypical manifestation of the Stockholm Syndrome. They’re both relationship freaks, and, as it turns out, they have lots to say to each other. It’s Sam who delicately worms the fact ‘MARCH SPECIALS All Herbal Blends Does all this trauma upset Sam? Not really. She soon bonds with her kidnapper, ‘Orders © ~ Book Searches_ Coffee & Teas cursed or sacred, depending on which version of the movie’ S thrice-told folk tale you believe. | Since Sam aa ey? are already acquainted when the ‘movie starts, ARGOY,. Gift Items a ; Z.fC} illogically entrusted to rescue the Mafia equivalent of the Holy Grail (“The Mexican”)— —a gun that’s either- his pen in blood, | burlesque “and cynicism for Pulp Fiction, hip hitmen, garrulous gangsters and changed — SERVED chalk up his gangster gig to his colli- Tarantino , dipped. : become... -de rigueur—and STEAK, SEAFOOD AND FOOD they can’t “meet cute” in hackneyed a cinematic tradition. Ever “since Q. ue. i. ie aggressors GREAT ze kidnappers), and charmed by crook. If you’re top in.) The a Jerry's bumbling imitation of a real Brad. ‘Pitt major: ‘motion picture 5: 30-9: a MS again until the last few minutes of the wait for: the day when Julia would : finally. share ‘romantic Tuesday - Saturday last reel’s confusing reunion in Mexico. While they’re apart, we're supposed to be concerned for Sam (since she’s the target of two compet- who) couldn't Roberts” and. 46 OPENING HOURS: _ Savor the balcony scene hecause - we don’t see Pitt and Roberts together by Paul: Swenson _ oviegoers (435) 657 1100. behest of mob middle manager Nayman (Bob Balaban)—rather than _ accompanying her to Las Vegas—is just one more evidence of his lack of | DIRECTED. BY GORE VERBINSK. WRITTEN. BY JH. WYMAN. STARRING. BRAD PITT, JULIA: ROBERTS, JAMES GANDOLFINI, BOB. _ BALABAN, JK. SIMMONS, AND GENE ) HACKMAN. | : ge §) 98 South Main Street, Heber City Run Amuck The Mexican — B3. | ‘Decorate Easter Baskets with dried flowers and plant live grass that will sprout in one Week and live for afull month! Saturday, March 31st 10to 11am. _ Please call the Garden Shop to register. | sundance Farms is a certified organic grower, proud to offer environmentally friendly products. — Everything produced at Sundance Farms is handmade, we offer craftsmanship that comes from peopie’s energy, not machines! 3303 West 2400 South Charleston, Utah + 84032 1-435-654-2721 « 1-435-654-4026 (fax) Wwww.sundancefarmscom |