Mortdecai
Title: Mordecai (2015): A Failed Attempt at Reviving the Screwball Comedy Format: Analytical Film Review / Critical Essay
Mortdecai — Quick Reference & Guide
6. Final Verdict: Should You Dive In?
| You will love Mortdecai if... | Avoid Mortdecai if... | |-------------------------------|------------------------| | You enjoy PG Wodehouse but wish Bertie Wooster had a gun. | You need a hero with redeeming qualities. | | You like dark, dry, 1970s British cynicism (think The Pink Panther meets Lock, Stock). | You are offended by casual misogyny, racism, or class snobbery (period-appropriate, but real). | | You want short, clever, laugh-out-loud crime novels. | You only know the Johnny Depp film. |
4. The Film (2015): A Case Study in Misfire
Title: Mortdecai Starring: Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany (as Jock). Director: David Koepp mortdecai
The Good:
- Paul Bettany’s Jock is perfect: deadpan, loyal, and terrifying.
- The production design (suits, cars, mansions) is gorgeous.
- It’s short (107 minutes).
The Bad:
- Depp plays Mortdecai as a cartoon fop, losing the book’s sharp, cynical edge.
- The mustache became a meme (too distracting).
- The plot (stolen Goya, stolen gold, Russian mob) is rushed and incoherent.
Verdict: Watch it only as a visual companion to the books. The books are acid; the film is weak lemonade.
The "Mortdecai" Lexicon: Key Scenes and Quotes
No cult film survives without quotable dialogue. Mortdecai has a surprising amount. Title: Mordecai (2015): A Failed Attempt at Reviving
- "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request." (A callback to Pirates, but delivered with nasal aristocracy).
- The "Tasteful" Violence: Jock kills a man with a frozen leg of lamb. Later, he uses a vintage car door to decapitate a thug. The violence is so cartoonish it loops back to art.
- The Gwyneth Paltrow Phone Call: Johanna calmly discussing divorce proceedings while Charlie hides in a closet, covered in paint and shame. Paltrow plays the role with utterly deadpan perfection—the straight woman to the circus.
- The Ending: Charlie, having secured the Nazi gold, uses it to pay off his debts. He then lowers the Goya painting as the camera pans to a new, stolen Picasso. He has learned nothing. The credits roll. It is a masterstroke of anti-closure.
4. Re-evaluating the Mustache
The prop mustache (which had its own insurance policy and marketing campaign) has become a meta-meme. It is intentionally ridiculous. Depp has stated that he based the character on a combination of Terry-Thomas and Salvador Dalí. The mustache is not a mistake; it is a barrier to entry. You either accept the absurdity or you walk away. Cult fans have chosen to embrace it.
Who is Charlie Mortdecai?
To understand Mortdecai, you must abandon conventional morality. Charlie Mortdecai is a dissolute, roguish art dealer and part-time asset recoverer (which is a fancy way of saying "thief"). He is a member of the British landed gentry who has squandered his inheritance on wine, women, art, and the maintenance of a magnificent handlebar mustache. Mortdecai — Quick Reference & Guide 6
Bonfiglioli wrote three Mortdecai novels between 1972 and 1976: Don’t Point That Thing at Me (aka The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery), After You with the Pistol, and Something Nasty in the Woodshed. In these books, Mortdecai narrates his misadventures with a voice dripping in vitriol, high-society snobbery, and existential dread. He is a coward who stumbles into violence, a lecher who loathes everyone equally, and a genius who makes catastrophically stupid decisions.
Unlike the sanitized heroes of modern media, Mortdecai is unabashedly selfish. He hates his dimwitted manservant, Jock (a former wrestler and psychopath), he resents his wealthy wife, Johanna, and he despises the police inspector who tolerates him. Yet, we love him. Why? Because Mortdecai says the quiet part out loud. He is the id of the aristocracy.
Tone & Style Notes for Writing or Roleplay
- Voice: urbane, sardonic, self-deprecating aristocratic English with dry humor.
- Word choices: witty understatement, exaggerated euphemism, playful obscenity sparingly.
- Pacing: brisk conversational asides; long, ornate similes occasionally.
- Attitude: roguish charm, blasé about danger, fond of irony and paradox.