The Tourist

             The Tourist is one of those movies that has a lot of potential, yet puts in no effort to entertain the viewer what so ever. It left me questioning at the end of it if anything had really been accomplished in the last hour and 45 minutes. It truly is a shame too, as I believe this movie could have been a good one if it really had just put in the effort.
            The movie stars Johnny Depp as American teacher Frank Tupelo who is visiting Italy on vacation. While here he meets Angelina Jolie's character, Elise Clifton-Ward, on a train to Venice. From the beginning we know that Elise is on the run from Paul Bettany's (Wimbledon, Legion) character, Inspector John Acheson of Interpol, and a gangster due to some stolen money. Elise and Frank hit it off as Elise is using him in order to help shake her tails. She gets Frank sucked into a case of mistaken identity which causes him much distress and to be put in harms way frequently.
            Overall, the plot isn't entirely terrible. The idea and main conflict I am okay with, but it was the execution and dialogue that are the problems. In fact there were even a couple nice twists throughout the film that were great because they prolonged me predicting what the end result of the movie would be. However, this wouldn't last forever and even if I had not predicted the ending it still would have been quite uneventful and unexciting.
             As I have been saying, a movie with a good story idea and two A-list actors such as Depp and Jolie, with a quality supporting actor in Bettany, should not turn into such crap. There was absolutely no chemistry between Depp and Jolie's characters which made it completely unbelievable when they were supposed to have any serious and meaningful emotional scenes together. One factor of this must be because the entire script was poorly written. I am truly amazed that both Depp and Jolie received Golden Globe nominations for their performances, none the less the entire film getting a nomination for best picture at the Golden Globes. It's completely ridiculous.
            All of the bad aside there was a tiny bright spot to shine through it all. The entire film was shot on location in Rome and Venice. I have a feeling this was a strong factor in the actors' decision to do this movie. I can't imagine anyone watching this movie and not wanting to go to Venice afterwards.
            Finally, if you couldn't tell already, I do not recommend this movie. I give it a thumbs down and 1 star out of 4. If you're really determined to see this movie it is available at Redbox. Thankfully, I only spent $1 to see this. I feel for anyone who saw it in theaters. Perhaps, the person who said it best is Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times who wrote, "There is a moment in "The Tourist" when Johnny Depp turns to Angelina Jolie and asks "Why is all this happening?" It's a question moviegoers will be asking themselves as well." Isn't that the truth. Enjoy!

Editors Note: I know this review was supposed to be on Little Fockers, but that was an error on my part. Little Fockers will NOW without a doubt be the next review after this one.