Johnny Depp’s love affair with Wisconsin continues. First, he was here for Public Enemies, now he claims to be a born and bred Cheesehead.
Two of today’s arguably biggest stars (Depp & Angelina Jolie) pair up for this European romantic comedy/crime thriller, but the end results are about as good as the Dollar-to-Euro exchange rate (not great.)
The sparklingly attractive, foreign and mysterious Elise (Jolie) sits next to Frank (Depp,) a random American math teacher, on a train from Paris to Venice. Sorry Frank, it’s a guise to throw the authorities off her trail. Elise has been evading the police, who are after her lover, who is accused of embezzling some big bucks. They couple need to dodge the cops and the mobster from whom the money was stolen.
The Tourist gets and A+ for a beautiful European setting. It’s a treat to look at. Unfortunately, there is a lack of chemistry between our two stars. The plot and action are unbelievable and weak.
I kind of get the feeling that most of this movie was lost in the production. There’s an amazing amount of directorial prowess behind the camera. On screen, we also get a nice array of supporting characters, none of which are used to their potential. The film went through a couple directors. Charlize Theron was originally going to play Elise and Sam Worthington was going to be Frank. Things just got watered down in the mix.
I can say it was a surprise treat that the background story of Frank includes him living in Wisconsin. That being said the two references to America’s Dairyland seem to be delivered with a chagrin and semi-mocking nature. It’s as if the writers brainstormed a place that could be believably common and non-interesting. (Hey! You’re talking about my home state here!)
