Johnny Depp's New Movie 'Mortdecai' Is Getting Terrible Reviews
You may have seen a few TV ads or billboards for the flick like this one featuring Depp as a mustachioed Brit.
... or this one with Gwyneth Paltrow also strangely sporting a mustache.
The film, about an art dealer (Depp) searching for a stolen painting, hasn't screened for many US critics yet, but it's currently tracking low for the weekend. BoxOffice.com is calling for the film to make $8.5 million opening weekend. The Lionsgate picture cost an estimated $60 million.
In other words, aside from "Into the Woods," it's more than likely this will be Depp's fifth box-office bomb in a row.
Here's what critics are saying:
Empire is having fun with puns calling the film "somewhat mortifying":
Very close to disastrous, there's an unavoidable feeling that Gwyneth Paltrow and co. are having much more fun than you are, what?
On the heels of "The Lone Ranger" and "Dark Shadows," it appears that Depp has turned himself into Mike Myers - not the "Austin Powers" Myers, the "Love Guru" Myers.
As the plot ties itself in ever more uninteresting knots, a nagging question remains: who is 'Mortdecai' for? It's not thrilling enough for the multiplex crowd and not funny enough to work as out-and-out comedy.
It's hard to escape the suspicion that the only people sure to enjoy 'Mortdecai' are Depp, Paltrow and perhaps Tim Burton and Madonna.
The Telegraph calls the movie "psychotically unfunny" and suggests it could be in early contention for the worst film of the year.
This is comfortably the actor's worst film since Alice in Wonderland, and even dedicated fans will find their hearts shrivelling up like week-old party balloons at its all-pervading air of clenched desperation.
Mortdecai, the film, is neither satire nor spoof, instead getting caught uncomfortably in a place where the butt of the joke is difficult to pinpoint. And it seems the star of the film is hiding as well behind those carefully teased whiskers, apparently having tired of the whole acting thing and decided to act the fool instead.
A perky but obstinately unfunny heist caper with a hero irksome enough to make any happily mustachioed man reconsider his life choices.
On the flip side, Forbes's Scott Mendelson is among the few to suggest it's not as terribly awful as everyone is making it out to seem.
significantly less-terrible than expected, to the point where it does indeed reach the level of "not bad." That may be damning with faint praise, but after an oddly off-putting campaign that highlighted the allegedly "hilarious" lead character, zero buzz going into Friday's release, and a utter lack of official press screenings, it is with a spring in my step that I inform you that the new Johnny Depp vehicle is… fine?
That's not saying much, but if you're a fan of Depp, who has played numerous iterations of delightfully odd characters over the years, maybe you'll sort of appreciate his performance. We're holding our breath.
Check out a trailer for the film below: