Film Review: Supremely Silly ‘Mortdecai’ is a Pleasant Surprise

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CHICAGO – I have to say while watching Johnny Depp in “Mortdecai,” I found myself amused. I rarely elicited anything more than a slight chuckle, but its indomitable spirit of silliness made it a not entirely unpleasant evening out. This feather-weight trifle of a caper is only slightly more than the funny mustache movie its posters and trailer make it out to be.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Depp as Mortdecai comes across as sort of a randier Austin Powers, with more of a roguish rascal aura about him. Based on a character from a series of novels in the 1970’s by the late Kyril Bonfiglioli, Mortdecai is another in a long line of upper class British bumblers. He has all the upper class affectations of the aristocracy with none of the brains. While the film delves deeply into bathroom, breasts and boner humor, the spirit of the character wouldn’t be entirely out of place in a P.G. Wodehouse novel.

Mortdecai is an art dealer with connections to some of the more charismatic and cartoonish members of the underworld. He’s in the hole to His Majesty’s government for back taxes, so he agrees to help an old acquaintance in the British Secret Service (Ewan McGregor) track down a stolen painting and keep it out of the hands of international terrorists, Russian oligarchs, and other assorted power hungry fops. Gwyneth Paltrow adopts a British accent seemingly picked up from Madonna to play Mortdecai’s wife, while Paul Bettany acts as Mortdecai’s muscle and gruff manservant, Jock Strapp (insert your tee-hee’s and ho-ho’s here).

Continue reading for Spike Walters’ full review of “Mortdecai”

Johnny Depp is the Title Character in ‘Mortdecai’
Photo credit: Lionsgate

Continue reading for Spike Walters’ full review of “Mortdecai”