A terrible performance, and a sad one, for this marks the nadir in the decline of the once-great Johnny Depp. Depp, a man beguiling, talented, handsome and ultimately odd enough to be one of Hollywood's premier characters, has truly fallen from grace. (And yes, people are touting Black Mass as his 'comeback', but that claim looks to be overstated). There are many films that might've sealed his fate (Alice in Wonderland, which saw Depp phone in another boring, famous-character performance for Tim Burton; Pirates of the Caribbean, the first of which was fun but has since descended to the point where Depp is now most well-known - not to mention most well-paid - for what is essentially a caricature, a bad Keith Richards impression) but ultimately it's this, Mortdecai, which turns Depp-love into its binary. A bumbling, deeply unfunny role, it beggars belief that Depp was once Ed Wood or Hunter S. Thompson - famous-person roles that he imbued with his own sense of wicked charm and skill - and his moustache-twirling antics here ensure that those performances, great as they were, might have done like Depp's Jack Sparrow eyes and been completely overshadowed.
