The Mexican (DVD, 2001, Widescreen)

The Mexican is not a person, but an antique pistol of mythologic lore. Male lead Brad Pitt has to recover it for the rightful owner but not before his story becomes an epic in its own right. Female lead Julia Roberts has her own tale of intertwined involvement.

The genre is a little hard to classify. Technically it is a sophisticated European dark comedy, where the mafia is portrayed as "keystone kops" and the hero is a benign crook we can love and hate, but rube American audiences don't appreciate that. The movie studio calls it a romantic comedy, but that ignores most of the story line not to mention the well deserved R - violence/language rating. How about action-adventure of the "Shanghai Noon" ilk. Mostly it is what Hollywood used to call the "B-Movie", first line performers in a low budget light duty entertainment package.

It is a long show, 2 Hours and is best viewed at one sitting without commercial breaks.