“The Tourist” — Mathew DeKinder (Suburban Journals)
In the heyday of Hollywood’s Studio Era, there was a simple elegance to movie making. When it was at its best, talented directors would be paired with gifted screenwriters and beautiful movie stars (who also happened to be decent actors) would be filmed in glorious, exotic locales.
Given these parameters, “The Tourist” is a throwback to this bygone era down to its very core.
The plot is elementary Hitchcock, as Johnny Depp plays the classic role of the Wrong Man. He is Frank Tupelo, an American math teacher on vacation in Europe. On a train to Venice, he meets Angelina Jolie, herself playing the classic role of the...
I’m a great fan of caper movies. Give me a plot with a lot of twists and turns, a bunch of red herrings, witty dialogue and credible disguises, and I’m happy as a kid with a new electric train. I can excuse plot flaws, acting flaws and things like that. Throw in a beautiful woman and I’m in love.
For all those reasons, and the bonus for the presence of Angelina Jolie, I had a good time at “The Tourist,” which opened yesterday. It’s a remake of “Anthony Zimmer,” a 2005 French film, which I also liked.
Jolie plays a woman of mystery, often with the faintest hint of a smile flickering...
“The Tourist” – Lynn Venhaus (Belleville News-Democrat)
Only the reincarnation of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn could have possibly saved “The Tourist,” a flat and tiresome retread of every mysterious woman-mistaken identity plot in the history of cinema.
Sadly, gorgeous shots of Venice can’t save this implausible tale, which pairs an uninspired Johnny Depp with a plastic one-dimensional Angelina Jolie. They have zero chemistry together and there’s not a single minute of sorely needed sizzle.
Woe is the viewer who thinks “Beautiful stars and shots of Venice, how can it miss?” — by a yard, a Scotland Yard.
Depp unconvincingly plays a mild-mannered...
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