We love Johnny Depp. We love how the man can elevate silly films (like the Pirates of the Caribbean series) to fun, frothy entertainment. And in the Golden Globe-nominated The Tourist with the always gorgeous (but predictable) Angelina Jolie, he delivers his goofy, flawless charm in spades, elevating the film from a misfire to a likeable adventure-comedy that will have you entertained from start to finish. But first, deposit your brains at the door.
Jolie plays Elise Clifton Ward, a mysterious “target” who’s under constant surveillance by various law enforcement agents, including Inspector Acheson (Paul Bettany) and Chief Inspector Jones (Timothy Dalton) of Scotland Yard, as she’s pursued by Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff), a ruthless Russian gangster and his henchmen. Actually, they’re not after her. They’re searching for an elusive thief known as Alexander Pierce, and Elise is known to be madly in love with him.
When Elise receives a courier-delivered envelope from Alexander while having breakfast at her favorite Parisian café, she immediately takes off to meet the love of her life. Following specific instructions en route to Venice, she seductively picks up a stranger, Frank Tupelo (Depp), a mild-mannered, clueless and bumbling math teacher from Wisconsin. Dinner leads to an impulsive kiss, followed by complications, including Frank spending a night in sultry Elise’s sumptuous suite. By this time, both the cops and crooks are convinced that gullible Frank is their secretive swindler and the chase is on.
So the plot is pretty preposterous and there is a lack of real chemistry between the two leads (at one point, Elise is willing to give up Alexander to be with Frank, although the two generate as much as heat as a broken oven on screen), but there are enough action scenes and plot twists here to keep things going. Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others) does a decent job with the quasi-James Bond material, and the city of Florence has never looked more ravishing under the eye of cinematographer John Seale (The English Patient). Still, The Tourist could have been so much more if the plot had been less convoluted and the chemistry more palpable between the two leads. But hey, you can’t have everything.