Mortdecai -

Title: Mortdecai Starring: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany (as Jock). Director: David Koepp

The Good:

The Bad:

Verdict: Watch it only as a visual companion to the books. The books are acid; the film is weak lemonade.

For a decade, Mortdecai was a secret handshake among bookish cynics. Then, in 2015, Hollywood happened. Directed by David Koepp and starring Johnny Depp (as Mortdecai), Gwyneth Paltrow (as Johanna), and Ewan McGregor (as the long-suffering Inspector Martland), the film was intended to launch a franchise. mortdecai

It did not.

The Mortdecai movie was savaged by critics. It holds a 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It grossed a mere $47 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. Superficially, the film is a disaster. Depp’s accent wanders across the British Isles, the mustache is prosthetic (and looks it), and the tone veers wildly between slapstick and action-adventure. The Bad:

However, time has been surprisingly kind to the Mortdecai film. Why? Because it is weird. In an era of soulless Marvel quips and algorithmic Netflix thrillers, the Mortdecai movie is aggressively bizarre. It feels like a $60 million student film made by someone who adored Peter Sellers but had an unlimited budget.

Critics hated that Mortdecai was "unlikeable." But that is the point. The film faithfully captures the book’s central thesis: Charlie Mortdecai is a terrible human being. The film bombed because audiences expected a charming rogue like Jack Sparrow; instead, they got a snobbish, misogynistic, cowardly toff. But for the cultists, that is precisely why the Mortdecai film is now a midnight movie classic in the making. Verdict: Watch it only as a visual companion to the books

If you are ready to join the cult, Mortdecai is readily available.

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