Mortdecai - What did I just watch here?

I’ve just sat through ‘Mortdecai’ and I’m now sitting here wondering what exactly I just saw and whether or not I even liked it or not!  It’s one of those films that’s actually quite hard to explain.  First of all I wasn’t expecting much.  The overall critics’ reviews were pretty scathing towards it and, in some cases, I can see their points of view.  However, it did make me chuckle here and there.

Johnny Depp has made a career out of playing over-the-top, whacky characters and here he plays the English nobleman ‘Mortdecai’ – an art dealer who’s fallen on hard times.  Then, through a series of further misfortunes, he’s forced to track down a priceless painting who everyone from MI5 to the Russian mafia is after.

It’s sort of a spy movie, but with huge lashings of outlandish comedy thrown in.  I was okay with the spy movie element, it was just the ‘comedy’ part that threw me.  Johnny Depp’s character is just too damn annoying to be a leading man.  Sometimes he found himself captured and taking a beating.  However, for every punch he took, he just shrugged it off as if it was nothing and then proceeded to make a witty quip.  I know this film is hardly trying to be ‘realism,’ but I found it a little too hard to swallow, as it’s not like he’s playing an ‘action man’ or tough, grizzled soldier who’s used to torture and taking blow after blow.  Plus he was actually very annoying to watch.  Okay, so not quite as bad as – let’s say – Jar Jar Binks, but if you can imagine someone really annoying being the star of a film and having to ‘support’ them throughout, you’ll imagine what it’s like watching Johnny Depp in ‘Mortdecai.’ I know it’s intentional, as even one of the other characters remarks on his constant ‘messing around.’

However, even though Depp did annoy me considerably, there are moments of genuine fun and I did laugh out loud a few times.  I didn’t hate the film, I just found it difficult to watch as it leapt from one genre to another.  One moment we were engaging in car chases across London, the next we were indulging in conspiracies like something in a Dan Brown novel.

The critics have been harsh.  It seems that ‘Depp-bashing’ is in fashion right now and seemingly there’s little he can do right these days.  It’s not as bad as some are making out.  It’s just a bit all over the place.  But, at the end of the day, it’s only a bit of harmless fun and it knows it.  As long as you remember that, you shouldn’t feel too aggrieved for sitting through it.  I sort of enjoyed it, however I don’t know whether I’ll ever watch it again.  Depp’s done better in the past and I’m sure he’ll do better in the future when he’s not being so heavily scrutinised by the critics.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights