The Mexican

Elllll-Camino!

By the grace of God or I don't know what honey you have managed to Forrest Gump your way through this. If we run now, we're going to be running the rest of our lives.

Brad Pitt stars as Jerry, a basically decent guy with pretty poor driving skills. Through inattention at the wheel, he managed to crash his car into that of Arnold Margolese, a notorious gangster. Margolese just happened to have a body in the trunk of his car, leading to his arrest when the cops came to investigate the accident. Now Jerry is in his employ, at least until Margolese leaves prison...and much to the annoyance of his girlfriend, Sam.

After five years of running errands for Margolese, Jerry is almost out of his debt. He just has one job left, a simple delivery. All he has to do is fly to Mexico and pick up a very special gun, the eponymous Mexican, then bring it to Margolese. Unfortunately for Jerry, things are about to get complicated. The Mexican is a very valuable commodity, and Margolese isn't the only one who wants it. With multiple buyers hoping to secure the gun, Jerry finds himself on the run from everything. And Sam, eager to leave him behind, is taken as collateral by the notorious hitman Leroy. Needless to say, Hilarity Ensues.

Tropes used in The Mexican include:

• Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other - despite their constant bickering in each other's presence, Sam and Jerry get a couple of these moments towards the end of the film
• Badass Driver - Leroy, who manages to make a Volkswagen Beetle look cool as he dodges traffic and big-rigs while abducting Sam
  • Jerry thinks he's one, but he's really just crazy
• Bad Guy Bar - Jerry walks into one to find Beck
• Beware the Nice Ones - Sam can be very sweet (if a tiny bit of a drama queen when it comes to her relationship), but with Jerry's life on the line she has no problem pulling the trigger
• Black Comedy - the film walks the line between this and Dramedy
• Blood-Splattered Innocents - Sam walks around covered in a stranger's the real Leroy's blood after Leroy shoots him at close range
• The Cameo: Gene Hackman as Margolese
• Can't Hold His Liquor - Beck
• Career Killers - Leroy and Winston, who was impersonating Leroy
• Chekhov's Gun - The Mexican itself, in a literal example of this trope.
• Cool Car - Say it with me....Ellllllll Camiiiiiiinoooooooooooooo!
• Media Research Failure - A lot of people thought that the title of the film referred to Brad Pitt's character and said that it was racist because he did not look Mexican at all...
  • This people don't seem to know that white mexicans do exist...
• Dead Person Impersonation - Subverted. Winston kills the real Leroy, then tells Sam he's Leroy. But the real Leroy isn't actually dead, since he was wearing a Kevlar vest. Leroy comes back after them, but Winston kills him for real before he can reveal who he really is.
• Drives Like Crazy - Jerry; it's what landed him into debt with Margolese in the first place.
  • Also, at the end of the movie, Jerry purposefully crashes his car just because Sam wouldn't stop talking
• Embarrassing Tattoo - Leroy has one on his arm that says "Winston." Sam presses him on its meaning, but Leroy says it's the name of a guy he doesn't like. She assumes it's an ex. Actually, it's his real name.
• Fiery Redhead - Sam
• Flash Back - We get several, as different people recount the origin of the Mexican
• Gayngster - Leroy
• Fridge Brilliance - Winston telling Sam about the tattoo, saying that it's the name of someone he doesn't like very much. After you watch the movie again, you realize that he's talking about himself.
• Hey, It's That Guy! - Sure you have the obvious with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, but there's also Charlie Epps as Beck, Tony Soprano as Leroy, Dr. Skoda as Ted, and many, many more.
• Hitman with a Heart - Also Leroy

Sam (to Leroy): You know, you're very sensitive for a cold blooded killer.

• Hostage for Macguffin - At the end Bernie, who has Sam in the trunk of his car, offers to return her safely to Jerry for the Mexican.
• I Just Shot Marvin in the Face - Poor Beck. He was drunk and just trying to pee against the wall of a building when a stray bullet from some folks shooting their guns in the air catches him straight in the forehead. This is why celebrating with gunfire isn't such a smart idea.
• MacGuffin Escort Mission - Jerry is responsible for fetching the Mexican and bringing it to Margolese. Unfortunately, while he gets the gun rather easily, he has a much harder time hanging onto it.
• Never Suicide - Leroy and Sam get back to their hotel to find that Frank, the guy Leroy picked up the previous night, is splattered all over the payment after seemingly leaping to his death. In reality, the real Leroy has come back to pick up Sam, and killed Frank when he found him in the room.
• El Spanish-O - "I need a ride in your El Truck-o to the next town-o."
• Invisible to Gaydar - Considering he's played by James Gandolfini and exhibits no mannerisms (apart from checking out one guy in a diner), Leroy qualifies
• Treacherous Advisor - Ted, who is only out for himself and was setting Jerry up for a hit
  • Bernie Nayman, Margolese's second in command while he's in prison, also counts. Nayman is after the Mexican for himself, and doesn't care whether Jerry lives or dies, just as long as he gets the gun.
• With or Without You

Samantha: I'm going [to Las Vegas] with or without you, Jerry. What's it gonna be?