There are a few reasons this movie didn't resonate with the culture. 1. Stereotyping of the stars. When you pair two huge movie stars (Roberts & Pitt) this comes with baggage. People, especially Roberts fan want to see her in specific movies playing certain roles to make themselves feel better. Movies are an emotional art. Break this mold, and disappointment. Roberts playing in Oceans 11 brings her back to that safety/comfort zone. This role had F-bombs, violence, and Julia was less than glamorous. Women like to see their star in a pretty dress "red carpet" syndrome, but driving around with some guys in a 1974 El Camino on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.Pitt came out of Fight Club in 1999 and there was still a buzz about that. He doesn't do comedy much (and is good at it) so this was not really a guy flick per se. The casting of the two might be the big blunder but they worked well together IF people could let go.2. The Title. Titles and album covers count! Hang with me here...one of the best pop groups of the 70's was The Babys. Every Journey fan should love this band, but four guys named their band, The Babys! Great music, lousy name. The Mexican, even back in 2001, was weird. I felt a disconnect when I saw the poster driving. The Mexican--Brad Pitt & Julia Roberts...hmmmm. They should have called it The Pistol or The Magic Pistol or something else but The Mexican over a gun with a unique history. Fail. This was a relationship movie, a road trip movie, an escape movie to test a relationship! OMG...how could they not get that!3. No Internet back then...really. People make gut decisions to see a movie. That is why they have movie posters to advertise when you drive, a 2-3 second opportunity to capture your attention to make a decision. Hit or miss. Desire or pass. If the movie trailers had Brad Pitt in close-ups, shots of his pretty face, typical Hollywood fare to market, they should have gone this route to get people in the theater. This is really a movie about relationships and that always sells IF lame suits knew what they were doing which is incredible--all that effort to make a movie and the suits don't even know what it really is about working in the business sector of the "biz"This move also has a great B class of actors; James Gandolfini, Gene Hackman, a new character actor J.K. Simmons, Bob Balaban (people would recognize from a Seinfeld episode)Good movie--see it!

This could have been an adult Bob Hope and Lucille Ball movie. It was as fractured as Pulp Fiction but without any of the reality. If it was intended to be a tongue in cheek spoof, that much was accomplished. I don't remember if the actual age of the pistol was mentioned but it was obviously a cap and ball pistol. No explanation as to why a pistol that old and treasured as an heirloom, was loaded. Julia Roberts pulled the trigger and "bang", the bad guy is hit in the thorax at point blank but, in typical Hollywood fashion, stands around just looking shocked. In real life he would have dropped 1/10th of a second after being shot. That is just childish.James Gandolfini's talent was not just wasted, it was thrown away. He played a great part for nothing. Hackman's character could have been cut out of cardboard. He looked like he was thinking, "Why the hell did I agree to do this?" Might be easier to endure with an occasional shot of tequila and a Dos Equis chaser.

only a nice film who propose interesting roles for great actors. adventure, romanticism and few drops of comedy. not great ambition, not extraordinary movie. but useful for a Sunday evening. because, without be memorable, it propose tension and good acting. a Brad Pitt different by the ordinaries roles and Julia Roberts in a new light. and, sure, a seductive James Gandolfini. a thing as key of great events. love and search and a way not easy and a strong woman. all presented in right manner. the real interesting - memories about old fashion westerns and little drops from Indiana Jones. and it could be enough. for pure entertainment.

it's difficult to come up with new ways to say a movie is an incoherent, bloviating, sleep-inducing, overly-self-important, and utterly pointless mess. With 2001's The Mexican, I see only difficulty. I sat in front of the TV watching this "black comedy," hoping something, anything would happen that would make sense, would make me care about the characters or the story. The Mexican makes so little sense and is so thoroughly tedious that I wasn't even interested, well into the third reel, when Gene Hackman shows up.I have seen a lot of rotten movies in my time, and many of them were watchable despite their awfulness. The Mexican can't even get to that level of incompetence, it's that bad.