'Mexican' packs a punch

Star-struck fans probably would pay $7.75 just to watch Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts talk to each other for two hours.

Thankfully, "The Mexican" succeeds on more than just star power. The compelling, fast-paced story is so well-told, it could make stars out of Pitt and Roberts if they weren't big-time already.

"The Mexican" should give a boost to James Gandolfini (HBO's "The Sopranos"), who turns in a smooth performance as a sensitive mob thug.

Jerry (Pitt) is a small-time mob flunky whose girlfriend (Roberts) demands that he get out of the business. Jerry would like to find a different line of work, but his boss tells him he can either do one more job - retrieve a legendary pistol from Mexico - or sleep with da fishes.

Jerry heads to Mexico, infuriating irrational Samantha, who takes off to Las Vegas.

Jerry's lack of common sense and inability to speak Spanish get him in trouble south of the border. Hardly the debonair criminal, he promptly loses his car and gets locked up in prison.

Meanwhile, Samantha, who thought she had broken away from Jerry's crime life, is captured by Leroy (Gandolfini), a surprisingly effeminate mob thug who holds Samantha hostage to ensure that Jerry makes good on the pistol deal.

Jerry and Samantha embark on separate adventures, and both characters evolve along the way.

Jerry learns to become more of a smooth operator, and with the help of Leroy, Samantha comes to grips with the depth of her true feelings for Jerry.

The film has an authentic look. It was filmed partly in Real de Catorce, a small town in the northern central highlands of Mexico.

The dialogue is hip without being annoyingly ultrahip, and while there's plenty of violence, none of it is gratuitous.

Pitt and Roberts do more than just flash their pretty faces. Both display the talent that made them stars - and this film is by no means a sleepwalk for either actor.

"The Mexican" is a gut check for both actors' abilities. Pitt and Roberts are required to step out of their respective comfort zones.

This time, Pitt doesn't get to be the suave, self-assured, highly intelligent guy ("Fight Club," "Seven Years in Tibet," "Meet Joe Black") and Roberts doesn't get to be the suave, self-assured scintillatingly beautiful woman ("Erin Brockovich," "Notting Hill," "Conspiracy Theory.")

Jerry is a stumbling goofball who has little tact. As Samantha, Roberts is a normal-girl-pretty but not superstar-pretty woman (due to a low-key makeup job) who has a tendency to display her insecurity.

In the little screen time Pitt and Roberts share, they show a believable chemistry. We really want these two to work things out, which goes against the natural urge.

Face it: Delusional Roberts fans were happy to see her break up with Lyle Lovett in 1995, and Pitt fans would be plenty pleased to see him divorce Jennifer Aniston.

But in "The Mexican," we want to see Pitt and Roberts end up in each other's arms.