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THE TOURIST: 2 ½ STARS

the_tourist_2010_movie-normal“The Tourist” is a movie that asks the question, Would one kiss from Angelina Jolie be worth risking your life for? Many would think yes, including Johnny Depp who plays the hapless eponymous character in this new thriller from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the director of the Oscar winning “The Lives of Others.”

In this twisty-turny thriller Johnny Depp plays Frank, an American math teacher on a train to Venice who gets caught up in some international intrigue involving a missing banker, Scotland Yard and some murderous Russians when Angelina Jolie sets him up as a decoy to throw the police off the whereabouts of her fugitive boyfriend.

“The Tourist”—a remake of the 2005 French film “Anthony Zimmer”— plays like “Strangers on a Train” meets “True Lies” with a hint of “CSI: Italy” mixed in for good measure. It doesn’t pack the kind of movie star magic promised by the pairing of Depp and Jolie—he’s too passive for most of the film for sparks to really fly—and the storyline feels like a “Matt Helm” movie idea reject, but taken for what it is, a stylishly forgettable Euro romp, it’s a bit of fun.

Despite Depp’s presence Jolie is the star of the film. The camera fawns over her, luxuriating in her every seductive blink, curve and hair flick. Depp falls for her, as does everyone else, including the police who have her under surveillance who debate whether she is wearing underwear or not. Take her out of the equation and there’d be a whole lot less reason to watch the movie.


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