The Tourist takes its two super stars, Depp and Jolie, and uses them effectively to craft a somewhat odd amalgamation of genres that all feel a bit lite, yet still work.

Jolie plays Elise, a Brit roaming Paris who is under surveillance constantly by the British governments with the hope that her wanted beau will show his pretty new face to see his love.  When she gets a letter at her usual café from her estranged lover to find herself a random stranger on the train to Venice and convince her pursuers that this stranger is the man they are looking for.  That stranger is Frank (Depp), and he is an American math professor on holiday that is more than happy to follow around Elise like a puppy at her beckon call.  Before you know it a third party of mobsters gets involved as they want Elise’s man dead and Frank finds himself in a lot of trouble.

The film has a bit of humor, a bit of action, a bit of romance, a bit of crime, a bit of intrigue, a bit of mystery and it almost adds up to an entire movie.  Unfortunately that movie also only has a bit of a plot and while that is fine the film is built around not very much at all.   [Read more...]