Review

Review Date: 12-December-10
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Just OK

The Tourist (2010)

In 2006, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck vaulted to fame as the guy with the niftiest name in show business whose first feature-length effort, The Lives of Others, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (and deservedly so). So great was his rise that he landed two of the biggest stars on the planet for his next picture, The Tourist. Yet proving that talent and fame are fickle things, FHvD fell prey to the sophomore slump. He stuck with familiar themes (espionage, the need for human connection) but failed to find the pulse behind his characters' actions and interactions. His apparent good luck at casting didn't pan out either. Despite or possibly because of the combination of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, The Tourist is lamentably dull.

Depp plays the titular character, a math teacher from Wisconsin whose quiet vacation is disrupted by Jolie's femme fatale. Although the setting is right — a train hurtling towards Venice, followed by the waterways of the ancient city — the sparks do not fly. Chemistry is elusive, but part of the problem is that these roles don't tap into the actors' strengths. I once thought that Depp could play anybody, but it occurred to me during this film that he is not well suited to romantic roles or sharing the screen with as forceful a star as Jolie. Depp shines brightest when he has the stage to himself and can express the special goings-on inside his characters. He loses luster when asked to focus on someone else, as here where his poor doofus is bewitched by the dazzling creature before him. The actor reveals little of his famous humor, and, true to the boring Midwesterner he's supposed to be, suffers a dangerous case of mistaken identity with no more than bland protestations and a dopey expression.

Set off by jewels and a sophisticated British accent, Jolie looks like she might eat lone travelers for breakfast, yet she too lacks inner fire. Her character spends the movie searching for a lost love wanted by both an obnoxious lawman (Paul Bettany) and a vicious crime lord (Steven Berkoff), while simultaneously succumbing to Depp's none too obvious charms. Though outwardly flashier, she's as wishy-washy as he is, which conflicts with Jolie's emanation of power. A confused siren and smitten dullard don't generate a lot of heat, particularly when they're played by a natural dynamo and master of solitary eccentricity.

As if to highlight the stars' clumsy turns (without, alas, erasing their effect), the screenplay concludes with a "clever" trick which merely cements the awkwardness of the experience. The Tourist tries to mold its stars' appeal into glamorous, sexy fun, but it and they lack the spark needed for a pleasure trip.

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