Pun Salad

[Playing catchup with my neglected book and movie blogging today.]

This got mediocre reviews, a mediocre score from IMDB voters, and Netflix didn't think I'd like it very much. But—guess what?—Mrs. Salad looooves Johnny Depp, so into the top of the Netflix queue it went. And it's not awful, it's just mindless fluff.

Elise, played by Angelina Jolie, is being shadowed by an elite crime-fighting force. She is their only hope of getting a line on her boyfriend, Alexander Pearce, a famed international thief. Pearce is also being sought by the last guy he ripped off, a ruthless mobster. To throw everyone off the track, Elise latches onto Frank (Depp), a clueless American; perhaps she can convince her pursuers that Frank is a surgically-altered Pearce. This gambit puts both Elise and Frank in peril. (Eventually. It takes a long time for anything to actually happen, peril-wise.)

Ms. Jolie changes into a lot of different costumes, and looks appropriately mysterious/glamorous. Mr. Depp demonstrates unexpected courage and resourcefulness. If only Depp were (say) Cary Grant and Ms. Jolie were (um…) Grace Kelly, and the whole thing was directed by Hitchcock 60 years ago… but it wasn't.

The movie was written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who previously wrote and directed the totally stunning (and far better) movie The Lives of Others. Hope this is just a dip in the road for him.