★★★
The Tourist is simply fun.
Though it speaks more to cinema than to life, there’s pleasure to be had
as it combines classic romance, suspense, humor and style from 60s American
film. While there could be more
chemistry between Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, there’s no real reason for plausibility
or authenticity here. This film
celebrates the pleasures of a type of movie that’s no longer made and shows us
that such films can be fun even though they’re not deep.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s second film is a fun
homage to a type of Hollywood that we no longer see much of. Elise Clifton-Ward is a chic heroine who inhabits
elegant locations in Paris and Venice, and von Donnersmarck’s direction dresses
her elegantly, gives her witty dialog, lights her in a striking manner and
moves her with a sexy swing. She draws
an innocent math teacher, Frank Tupelo, into the intrigue she inhabits, and an
outlandish plot ensues as a relationship between the two develops. It’s a film full of European exoticism, high
style, romance, and maneuvering as the two negotiate the various parties
interested in Elise and her criminal boyfriend.
