It has been 23 years since Gore Verbinski’s The Mexican hit cinemas. Despite a profitable release at the time, and an A-list cast including Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, it does rather feel as if audiences have forgotten the film entirely. I suppose that is not a surprise: it wasn’t exactly adored by critics, and was one of many pre-Summer American films jostling for space in March 2001 (I mean, how well does anybody remember Exit Wounds, 15 Minutes, or Get Over It?). All the same, I have always had affection for The Mexican. It has some wonderful characters and moments, and a well-defined style.

Jerry Weibach (Pitt) runs errands for a Los Angeles crime boss to whom he owes a debt. He is sent to Mexico to collect a rare and extremely valuable antique pistol; a job that puts him violently at odds with his girlfriend Samantha (Roberts). Once the exchange randomly goes awry, Jerry’s masters begin to doubt his motives and order a hitman (James Gandolfini) to take Samantha hostage.

Go by the marketing materials, and one might assume The Mexican is a romantic comedy pairing Pitt and Roberts on some light-hearted comic adventure. In truth they spend most of the film apart, each engaged in a narrative so divided from one another that it is like watching two different movies. In one, Pitt headlines an absurd neo-western dominated by chance and coincidence. In the other, Roberts and Gandolfini enjoy a surreal dialogue-heavy road trip that is much stronger on character and lot more heartfelt. Each thread would make a solid film in its own right. Blended together and there is a benefit of contrasting styles but a overly long running time. At a shade over two hours long, The Mexican would certainly benefit from losing 10-15 minutes.

It is Samantha’s story that surprisingly engages the best, and that is largely down to James Gandolfini’s relaxed and effective performance as hitman Leroy. There is a lot of unexpected charm to the character, and an awful lot of easy-going charisma in Gandolfini’s delivery. Structurally it feels as if this is supposed to be The Mexican‘s side-story, but in all honesty it dominates the film from beginning to end. Julia Roberts benefits enormously from the screenplay here: she is an actor whose work often varies in quality, but with a strong character and a talented sparring partner in Gandolfini she ably excels here.

The other side of the movie is still well-acted, with good supporting work by the likes of J.K. Simmons and Bob Balaban, but there is something a little too formulaic about it. We have seen these sorts of epic wild goose chases before and since, as well as Pitt’s overly familiar ‘bad tourist’ schtick that dominates most of this thread’s attempts at comedy. There are some particularly effective scenes and sequences, but also a lot of running around eating up the runtime. Darius Khondji’s cinematography certainly emphasises the hot, unpleasantly sweaty environment: like all of Gore Verbinski’s film, The Mexican certainly looks great.

There is a lot of fun to be had with this film, despite it’s relatively uneven nature. It was never going to achieve classic or cult status, but more than two decades on it continues to offer an entertaining ride. There’s no pressing need to re-evaluate The Mexican, but it could do with a little re-appreciation instead.