I'm going to take a completely different tack in my review -- I didn't hate this movie, but I'm not really recommending it either. Through the entire run time, I found myself mildly amused but with the distinct feeling that I was MISSING something. It seemed that the actors were having a great time putting it on the screen, but the fun they were having didn't really ever make the jump to the viewing experience.
So I tracked down a copy of the novel which inspired the movie. I refuse to say that Kyril Bonfiglioli's "Don't Point That Thing at Me" was adapted for the big screen in "Mortdecai," as aside from some characters and a plot that also has to do with stolen art, similarities are few and far between. Even the characters are not always well-translated; both Martland and Krampf are quite overweight in the book, and that's not really a description that applies to either Ewan McGregor or Jeff Goldblum. Gwyneth Paltrow is closer to the mark, but in the book she's connected more to Krampf than to Mortdecai, at least to start with. Paul Bettany may be the best cast character as Jock.
The storyline doesn't match up much at all, except for the aforementioned stolen art link. The novel's plot has Mortdecai traveling to the United States and taking a road trip through the American South on his way to Krampf's estate in Texas, taking with him a stolen Goya concealed within a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost that blends in like a sore thumb. But I will admit that there would have been difficulties in adapting that plot for the big screen, especially with a limited vanity project budget.
If you hated this movie, as many obviously did, then that's cool. If you wanted to like it but just couldn't bring yourself to complete the transaction, then try to find the book -- it's a short one, at less than 200 pages. At least then you'll be able to appreciate not only why the actors wanted to make the movie, but also why they didn't really succeed.
So I tracked down a copy of the novel which inspired the movie. I refuse to say that Kyril Bonfiglioli's "Don't Point That Thing at Me" was adapted for the big screen in "Mortdecai," as aside from some characters and a plot that also has to do with stolen art, similarities are few and far between. Even the characters are not always well-translated; both Martland and Krampf are quite overweight in the book, and that's not really a description that applies to either Ewan McGregor or Jeff Goldblum. Gwyneth Paltrow is closer to the mark, but in the book she's connected more to Krampf than to Mortdecai, at least to start with. Paul Bettany may be the best cast character as Jock.
The storyline doesn't match up much at all, except for the aforementioned stolen art link. The novel's plot has Mortdecai traveling to the United States and taking a road trip through the American South on his way to Krampf's estate in Texas, taking with him a stolen Goya concealed within a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost that blends in like a sore thumb. But I will admit that there would have been difficulties in adapting that plot for the big screen, especially with a limited vanity project budget.
If you hated this movie, as many obviously did, then that's cool. If you wanted to like it but just couldn't bring yourself to complete the transaction, then try to find the book -- it's a short one, at less than 200 pages. At least then you'll be able to appreciate not only why the actors wanted to make the movie, but also why they didn't really succeed.