Mortdecai : The pile on says more about critics than Depp or the film

I saw this yesterday and was shocked at how not-terrible it was. Far from a masterpiece, it was an enjoyable piece of comedic fluff (as it appears was intended). However, its clear that pretentious critics and countless amateurs are having a lot of fun tearing this film up, and mostly Johny Depp for being a complete and utter failure (or something).

That's what this is really about anyways. A Johnny Depp pile on. Apparently that's the thing to do at this moment in time, after having taken great lengths to place him on a pedestal about 10 years ago. Perhaps in a few years we'll be ready to welcome a 'return to form' and start praising the 'legendary' film actor Johnny Depp again, just because we've run through the build-up-tear-down-build-up cycle that gives our otherwise unremarkable lives some pathetic sense of purpose.

Like the film, don't like the film - its beside the point. The level of vitriol and mockery so disproportionate to the alleged 'crime' of making a film you don't like is really only illustrative of the pettiness of these critics. Don't get me wrong - thoughtful negative reviews are always welcome. But the sense of giddiness with which people are just itching to sling more mud at a man - to delight in his apparent 'demise' - it says a lot more about you than him.

After seeing this and considering the three other folks in the theater with me and the box office returns for the opening weekend, I would say that the critics are spot on!

THis film is something of a turning point for Depp adn the critics. I think a lot of critics have been cutting him a lot of slack with his wierdo roles out of memory of what a fine actor he once was, but that might have ended with Mortdecai.

I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson

It wasn't even really a weirdo role as much as charlie and the chocolate factory, alice in Wonderland or into the woods. Those were real weirdos this was just slapstick and goofy. I was kind of relieved actually when I saw it as I was kind of expecting to be creeped out.

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I was kind of expecting to be creeped out

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I think that statement speaks volumes about your level of expectation and you undying love for the man. You were expecting to be creeped out and you went to the movie anyway. And your highest praise for the film is the fact that you weren't nearly as creeped out as you expected to be.

Soylent Green is people!

Most of the reviews I read seem to be less gleeful and more mournful that such a talented actor has done nothing but play in dogs for at least five years and give lazy performances.

I think it's weird to give bad movies a pass because you are a fan of an actor but that's what a lot of Depp fans do.

How would one write a "gleeful" teardown of a film?

Zakiyyah-muhammad makes a vane attempt at an insightful rebuttal but fails miserably in this effort. It's perhaps quite predictable since he's done little in recent years beyond authoring ho-hum comments dealing in banal sentiments on trashy online forums. It's tragic that such a promising online commenter has chosen to waste his talents regurgitating cod-sagacious pop wisdom rather than engaging in more worthwhile endeavors.

Now, if you think the above paragraph (complete nonsense written merely to serve a point and shouldn't be taken seriously) demonstrates true sympathy towards the subject, then you're sadly mistaken. It's just easier to be brutally critical in such a tone than to come off as gloating or taunting. Portraying someone as a pathetic victim is just a more effective way of tearing them down than displaying overt malice, which would turn off most readers.

And I think most people would disagree that Depp has done nothing for the past five years besides playing in bad movies and giving "lazy performances." Here's a full list of the films he's starred in since 2010:

Alice in Wonderland
The Tourist
Rango
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Rum Diary
Dark Shadows
The Lone Ranger
Transcendence
Mortdecai

Of these films, only Mortdecai ranks below a 6.0. Critics (and certain audience segments) generally have very polarizing views, especially towards films with high profile leads. So because Mortdecai stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Depp, a middling film is suddenly the worst film ever made (really? have any of these people ever seen Spawn or Left Behind?). Sure, most of these films can't compare with the first Pirates, Fear & Loathing, Donnie Brasco, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Blow or Ed Wood. But not many films are on that level.

I'm not sure how one would judge a performance's laziness, but even the critically panned films like Lone Ranger, Dark Shadows and Transcendence feature pretty convincing/entertaining performances from Depp. Even his most staid performance, in the Tourist, is typical of that type of film, and the main problem was the lack of chemistry between Depp and Jolie.

It's hilarious how you are trying to get personal with me in order to defend Johnny Depp's bad film choices. Lmao.

No matter how much you whine and cry about it Johnny Depp has unfortunately damaged his career by giving lazy performances in awful films. Mortdecai is big fat hated bomb of a film, you are moronically trying to defend a universally reviled mega bomb because of your petty crush on an actor who doesn't care to act in 99% of his recent films.

Johnny Depp has been really *beep* lazy and has made horrendous career decisions and as someone who used to like him as a performer I pray that the new Whitey Bulger film leads him to salvation career wise. I don't know Depp personally so why should I give a flying *beep* about him if he is only making awful films? I wish him good luck in his personal life like I do most human beings but his being an actor is the reason I even care about what he is doing.

You are apparently some blind celebrity ass kisser though so my response will mean nothing to you. Enjoy your bad Johnny Depp movies you moron.

How can you expect people to take you seriously and treat you with respect when you post with such a hateful tone?

It appears to me that your anger is far greater than this "blind admiraton" somebody has for Johnny Depp.

Allow me to offer you a counter example. I believe a movie you rated 10, "Gravity" to pe precise, is complete *beep* I found it extremely boring, even had to watch it in multiple sessions. I would also mention that I have a physics degree, there is absolutely no way for me to find such a movie acceptable, with so many contradictions with reality. The only credits the movie deserves are for the visuals, which are incredible. That is all.

So how is it that a movie so boring and scientifically wrong, can get your 10 star rating? The answer, as unexpected as it may be to this society full of snobs, is personal taste. Get it through that hate-thickened skull of yours, a movie that you found, or heck, even the stupidly praised critics found garbage is not the absolute truth, and you should stop acting as it is.

The movie Mordecai might have been better if they'd had real British actors playing the lead roles, those Americans trying to put on the British accents make idiots of themselves! How Britain must be laughing at it all! This film though, reminds me of films Peter Sellers did in the 1960-1970's when spoof movies were all the rageSellers did ridiculous and (strange, at times)movies, that would not be shown today, given the politically correct climatebut the pink panther movie he did was wildly popular and I think that was the type of performance Depp was aiming for in Mordecai, just too bad he fell short of getting the true humor right in this movie!
I am glad you mentioned "Angelina Jolie" not having any chemistry with Johnny Depp in the banal movie Tourist, which probably would have been more successful with another female player. I can think that several beautiful actorsNaomi Watts, or Ann Hathaway, to name a couple who do well in those type of movies.
On the whole, Johnny Depp was better in certain films, (like Secret Window, Sweeney Todd, to name a couple I liked),prior to being discovered by the movie going public, in big blockbuster movies that get lots of hype and big budgets, it is not always important to put in a good performance as it is putting your name on a film so people would go to see it, which has happened to almost every Hollywood actor that you can name.first, they do a few indies with moderate success, then they are cast in a blockbuster, because they have a following. Or in Jolie's case, her father was the famous Jon Voight, so the talent must pass on?, but not in this case, but celebrity names are tradeable in Hollywood, a fortune for an appearance, whether you can act or not!
British actors, on the other hand cannot trade on those criteria in Europe and Britain, actors must do the job that they are trained to do, some are so good at it, they are even famous in America. But note how much you enjoy a movie that has a decent story and a good actor.it makes you want to see that actor in other things.like Clive Owen, who's a pretty good actor, but once the public got "over" him they put him in a TV series, which is such a shamehe's way better than TV deserves!
Lots of really great actors end up just like that, just because the critics and movie going public are fickle!

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The movie Mordecai might have been better if they'd had real British actors playing the lead roles, those Americans trying to put on the British accents make idiots of themselves! How Britain must be laughing at it all!

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What are you talking about? Johnny Depp does a great British accent.

Rant over. You can all return to your normal lives.

"play in dogs for at least five years and give lazy performances."

I'm curious. In what way are his performances "lazy"?

Can't these idiots see that this is a comedic farce like Inspector Clouseau. It never tried to be anything but zany. Jesus.

The people trashing this film have NO SENSE OF HUMOR. I bet those critics look back and trash Charlie Chaplin's masterful characters too.

Thank you. That's exactly how I felt.

Seriously, this movie was hysterical. It reminded me heavily of Lupin III. I loved it.

Too true man.

You're right, like I said before once everyone decides to hate on you, you can't do anything to stop it. He could appear in a commercial right now for starving children and the critics would say he overacted the part. LMAO!!! He can't win.

the audience is just tired of him seeing in the same wacky role,which is proved in the huge box office flop

If Sandler played Depp's role it would be receiving the same criticism.

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If Sandler played Depp's role it would be receiving the same criticism.

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Exactly and I like Adam Sandler but he been making crappy movies for few years


Lara Croft Himiko! The First Sun Queen! This is Yamatai.

Which only goes to show that Johnny Depp is a *beep* actor these days. I'm tired to see a new Jack Sparrow version in most movies he does.

You're right

The same wacky role? His role in Mortdecai is not really the same as his roles in Transcendence and The lone Ranger.

~Never Forget. Never Forgive."

This is true. Some of the Into the Woods reviews prove your point, he is it for like 5 minutes and some miserable critics made their reviews all about him.

~Never Forget. Never Forgive."

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I saw this yesterday and was shocked at how not-terrible it was. Far from a masterpiece, it was an enjoyable piece of comedic fluff (as it appears was intended). However, its clear that pretentious critics and countless amateurs are having a lot of fun tearing this film up, and mostly Johny Depp for being a complete and utter failure (or something).

That's what this is really about anyways. A Johnny Depp pile on. Apparently that's the thing to do at this moment in time, after having taken great lengths to place him on a pedestal about 10 years ago. Perhaps in a few years we'll be ready to welcome a 'return to form' and start praising the 'legendary' film actor Johnny Depp again, just because we've run through the build-up-tear-down-build-up cycle that gives our otherwise unremarkable lives some pathetic sense of purpose.

Like the film, don't like the film - its beside the point. The level of vitriol and mockery so disproportionate to the alleged 'crime' of making a film you don't like is really only illustrative of the pettiness of these critics. Don't get me wrong - thoughtful negative reviews are always welcome. But the sense of giddiness with which people are just itching to sling more mud at a man - to delight in his apparent 'demise' - it says a lot more about you than him.

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Agreed. I'm sure it's entertaining, it looks entertaining, and I'll make sure to see it. Depp is a genius performer and sometimes genius performers aren't appreciated until a future generation re-visits their work.

This is Roberto Benigni or Steve Martin Inspector, not Sellers

I'll try to articulate my thoughts as best I can.

I used to be a huge fan of Johnny Depp. Used to be. I always admired his unexpected choices in projects, and the quirky charm he brought to those projects.

The Captain Jack came along and things changed. I like the Pirates movies (well, the first two) and I like Depp's performances in them, but to me, Captain Jack actually represents almost the last of Depp's loveable oddballs.

After Captain Jack came superstardom - the type that Depp always seemed to be trying to avoid - and the benefits and drawbacks and pressures and responsibilities that come with it. Since Pirates, his choices have tended to be middling mainstream or 'weird for the sake of weird'. The 'loveable oddball' is gone replaced by characters like Willy Wonka who are just weird for the sake of being weird.

I don't know the man, of course, but to me it seemed he used to take roles because they genuinely interested him. He was a true iconoclast, working outside the system and carving the kind of niche for himself I imagine any actor would want; being highly successful and respected, and working on an incredible variety of projects, without falling into superstardom.

The good thing about his career is there will always be people offering him interesting roles in projects of all shapes and sizes. It's up to Depp to decide where he wants his career to go.



Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds

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Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'

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I love how your tagline (not sure if that's what it's called.?) is "Never defend crap with "It's just a movie". Yes!!!! Agreed. I don't know why film is the medium in which is it socially acceptable to use this lame excuse for nonsense or failure. I never hear, "it's just a painting", "it's just a book", "it's just a piece of music" to explain away / defend faults, errors or glaring careless mistakes. Writers, visual artists and *REAL* musicians are expected to own their work and take responsibility for their work, not use the medium itself as an excuse for part of it being crappy, out of tune or badly thought out.

So why is this such a common defense for movies? I'm so tired of hearing it.

I would much rather hear something like "the director decided to use some creative license with this part of the film", since "creative license", a term that refers to artists, poets, musicians and writers whose work doesn't always sit within the framework of the usual rules or viewers' accepted reality, could also be applied to directors who are bending the rules or changing certain facts, glossing over certain details, etc. People often use "poetic license", "creative license" etc. when creating.

But as a painter and writer, trust me: if I'm careless or something sucks, people will be critical and tell me I'm being lazy or something sucks. They're not going to go, "whatever it's just a painting." Saying that would dismiss all visual art as unimportant, and saying it about movies is an insult because it's saying they shouldn't be held to any kind of standards by people who view them. Like they shouldn't be very good. Like they don't have to even try to be that good, because they're "just movies".

"it's just a movie" is a cop-out. So really, a director can be lazy about pretty much anything at all and if an intelligent person questions it, all the frat boys can go, "Wow, you're really over-analyzing this. It's just a movie!"

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TL;DR: "It's just a movie" is a lazy and invalid excuse that's not giving much credit to the writers/directors either, or holding them to any responsibility for quality work.

Again, this is so ridiculous, what are you Jonny Depp's mother LOL. Trust me Mr. Depp will be fine, the critics, myself included, gave this film a bad review because it was BAD plain and simple. This was crap! People like you crying as if critics and people who hate a certain film only do so because they are attacking some actor or director is retarded. They love him when he makes good movies and hate him when he doesn't because we all know he could do better and we all seen him do better.

Proof to show how critics and people in general don't hate a film just because of the person can be found anywhere. From when Kevin Costner did the amazing 'Dances with Wolves' to when people hated him for the dull 'The Postman' to people liking him when he did a better movie. The best example can be Mel Gibson, he said some really offensive things yet when his movie 'Passion of the Christ' came out, since the movie was a good movie, they praised the movie and it got amazing reviews from most critics despite the fact that they didn't like what he said.

This movie was bad, not because Jonny Depp is being hated on, but because the movie is bad. Stop being a Jonny Depp cheerleader as if he needs you to protect him LOL (I just made that up and I made myself laugh: Jonny Depp's cheerleader LOL perfect explanation for people like you who feels like oh poor actors and the critics who are against their bad movies)

You sound like you think you were right.

So it is pretty obvious that you are wrong.

Tie the noose.

"it was BAD plain and simple. This was crap"


IN YOUR OPINION!!! You saying it was crap does not make it crap.It just means you didn't like it. Loads of other people did enjoy it.

If you're to bloody dense to recognise a classic farce when you see one then you have no right posting any opinions on here.

I've seen plenty of films I didn't think lived up to my expectations or I thought were bad. I don't come on here and say "This is a crap film" I say I didn't particularly like it but that doesn't make it 'crap'. It just means I will be wary of any more films by the director/writer/lead actor.

Another idiot who wants to censor those who he/she doesn't agree with. That says an awful lot about YOU, and your character.
This is a FORUM, not a fan site.
Time to grow up, youngster.


'When you hang a man, you better look at him.'

I agree. The movie is not as good as the marketing for it (which had me pretty excited) but it is still more enjoyable than this steaming pile 27/100 metacritic rating would suggest. Mr. Depp unfortunately hasn't been at his best in the last decade and we all hope for greater things to come, maybe this was a step in the right direction.

I completely agree with GalileosDog on the bashing of this film.Also as Johnny Depp was channeling Keith Richards for Jack Sparrow, It's now Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers for Mortdecai. I'm guessing the public out there has never seen a Late 50's or early 60's Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers films. How sad.

He still created a character far more memorable than anything in the new Avengers movie.

Oh but we have; and we love Terry Thomas, and Peter Sellars and for that matter Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Alastair Sim, Peter Jones, Alec Guiness, Cecil Parker and many more. But Johnny Depp has chosen to show us his inability to come close to any of them and certainly not Terry Thomas. Maybe it was meant to be an "Homage" to those films but actually I don't think so, it's just a bit of showing off by Depp getting a book he liked made into a movie so he could play the lead role and get some mates involved but it hasn't worked. Ewan needs to stop doing these as well I still remember that Down With Love" thing that was a " Homage" to all those Doris Day films that were all far better than the pastiche. Well "The Lady killers", "How to Murder your Wife", " Lucky Jim"." Brothers In Law", "I'm alright Jack" make this thing misconceived mess look like an ABSOLUTE SHOWER!

Or it could be that Depp's over-the-top, flamboyant performance is always the same and is starting to bore people. I know it has me.

Is he gay or does he just enjoy acting gay? I don't care that he's been married, so was Michael Jackson at some point.

Yea, Tho I Walk Thru The Valley Of The Shadow Of Political Correctness

When I saw the trailers for Mortdecai I thought it looked hilarious and I wanted to see it. Then the reviews were so atrocious that I completely changed my mind and I avoided it. With reviews as bad as Mortdecai got, it seemed mpossible for it to have anything redeeming about it. Then some close friends of mine told me they liked it very much and thought it was very funny. Because I trust their opinion so much, My wife and I rented it. I couldn't believe how wrong the critics were. Was it Depp's best work? No. Was it a comedic masterpiece? No. Was it entertaining, with funny performances from it's leads, and a coherent story? Yes! I was pleasantly surprised with Mortdecai as I was when I saw The Lone Ranger after the critics tore that one apart. I think hating on Depp for playing a quirky character has become the norm. Black Mass should win him some fans back.

When the hero becomes the villain.who becames the hero?

Here's the thing, the movie-going public rejected it as thoroughly as the critics did.

So, I disagree with your premise.

I so enjoyed the film. I agree with you, it wasn't meant to be a masterpiece, but a light, enjoyable comedy. Johnny was amazing here, he really makes the film his own, I never get tired of his goofs.
But, it's probably as you say, the nonsensical tear-down of Johnny Depp. Someone writes a bad review and it spreads like a plague. It is just something to fill up the papers with, some sensational news to sell, and all too fabricated. Media selling illusions. It is very interesting how people buy it without putting in their own critical mind.
I really hope Johnny Depp gets that he did a great job again, since critics can ruin those people's lives. Johnny, enough with America, go work in Europe for sanity's sake! :)