The Mexican

Jerry Welbach (Brad Pitt), plays a bumbling bagman working for the mob. He plans on getting out of the mob and going to Las Vegas with his girlfriend Samantha (Julia Roberts) to start a new life. However, after screwing up what was supposed to be his last assignment he is given another chance by his fellow gangsters. Either be killed on the spot, or go to Mexico and bring back a priceless antique pistol called “The Mexican”. At this point we might think that the second option was a smart decision by Jerry. Then we meet up with Jerry’s beautiful but neurotic girlfriend. I’m not taking his side of the story here ladies, but trust me, beautiful but neurotic. She seems to feel that in Jerry’s case its “always me, me, me,” and doing one more job to get out of the mob and spare his life is just a typical example of Jerry’s self centred nature. This is where the movie splits into many different sub plots. It turns out the gun is cursed and Jerry winds up in several action packed and humorous situations. Meanwhile, Samantha is on her way to Las Vegas to become a croupier. To ensure that Jerry doesn’t have plans of his own for the “The Mexican” the mob hires Leroy (James Gandolfini, from The Sopranos) to keep a watchful eye on Samantha. The two bond like brother and sister and it turns out that Leroy is an assasin with a special “twist”. There was certainly a fair share of violence in this film and being a Sopranos fan, I could watch Leroy kill people till the cows come home. Definitely worth the price of admission for this one. We are also treated to a cameo appearance by Gene Hackman; always a special treat.