The Mexican   Cert 15                                                                                                                                       

If, like me, you've watched far too many old black and white Westerns on T.V. then you'll know exactly what Mexico is like. It's hot and dusty, sombreroed peasants sleep in the shade of the local church, the occasional donkey, or should I say burro, lazily wanders down the high street and the chief  bandito who looks like he hasn't washed for three months always says "Hey Gringos give me your guns".
Obviously some things in Hollywood never change. Welcome to the backdrop of Brad Pitt's and Julia Robert's new love, hate epic `The Mexican'.
Brad Pitt is Jerry, a well meaning but incompetent sort whose final job for the local mob is to travel down to Mexico and pick up a historic and valuable pistol called The Mexican. However, his girlfriend Samantha (played by Julia Roberts) has other plans and tells Jerry unless he forgets Mexico and accompanies her to Las Vegas and a new life, then they're through.
Poor Jerry is stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place, but considering the fact that the mob will kill him unless he retrieves the pistol, Jerry decides to head south to Mexico.
Safely arrived in the land of tachos and tequilla, Jerry collects the gun, finds there's a curse attached to it and then to his horror, a comedy of errors unfolds, which leaves him car-less, penniless and most importantly pistol-less.
Meanwhile back in the good old U.S. of A. the mob decide that they may need some insurance just in case Jerry sells the pistol to the highest bidder. So they unleash Leroy a ruthless hitman (played by James Gandolfini, from the T.V. show The Soprano's) to kidnap Jerry's girlfriend Samantha and hold her for ransom.
What follows makes `The Mexican' an enjoyable, romantic, action, road movie with a side twist of off beat humour.
Strangely enough, even though Brad and Julia are the main stars of the film they spend very little on screen time together. The main relationship develops between Samantha and Leroy as they strike up an unusual friendship as the psychotic hitman reveals he's gay and starts to dispense sensitive and incisive advice on love and life in general.
But what about Jerry, the pistol and the ill fated curse? All I can say is take yourself to the nearest cinema,  prepare for an explosive finish and remember Gringos, give me your guns.