Mexican, The

Director Gore Verbinski has fashioned a deft little number here. Brad Pitt plays Jerry, a perpetual screw-up and gofer for some very bad people. Samantha (Julia Roberts), his long-term girlfriend, is one of those twitchy people who seemingly have no true thoughts of their own. Jerry has just one more “job” to do: fly down to Mexico and retrieve a priceless antique gun referred to as “The Mexican.” James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) is simply wonderful as a conflicted hit man assigned to shepherd Sam to Mexico as insurance against Jerry’s screw-ups. Everyone involved [in this film] seems to be having fun, and sometimes that is enough.