Depp’s kosher Clouseau
Mortdecai (12A)
THOUGH IT isn’t compulsory, as the critic for a Jewish newspaper I try to choose films that are either subject relevant or bursting with the artistic contributions of a Jewish cast and crew. With only the name — Mortdecai — to go on before shooting began, I wrongly assumed actor Johnny Depp had accepted his first Orthodox role and was ditching Captain Jack Sparrow’s tricorne for a shtreimel. Alas, this Judaica fantasy was short-lived as this time the costume-loving, accent-exploring Depp gets to dress up as Charles Mortdecai, the debonair English art dealer and global bounder who appears in the comic thriller caper novels of the late Kyri Bonfiglioli.
I’ve never read them but evidently the protagonist is of Dutch Jewish ancestry (a bit of trivia for JC readers) but the important thing in the film is that Mortdecai is gadding about the world in pursuit of a stolen painting which allegedly contains the code to a bank account filled with gold stolen by the Nazis.
Acquiring Nazi spoils automatically puts us on Charles’s team, which consists of his admirably tolerant man servant (Paul Bettany) and a good- looking wife who wants to get things done her way, which is ironic casting since she is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, the self-proclaimed “original Jewish mother”.
If Peter Sellers had been around, he would have challenged Depp for the role of gentlemanly buffoon for this is an old-fashioned Clouseau-style caper befitting its creator and well-assembled by Eric Aronson who adapted it for the screen with essential pointers from director David Koepp, but has the advantage of having written Jurassic Park, Spiderman and Mission Impossible.
This is nothing like any of them, but if you are partial to Mr Depp, the master of disguise, this romp around the wardrobe department with angry Russians and MI5 will entertain until the glorious days Depp dons a shtreimel.