Mortdecai

Mortdecai is a 2015 American action comedy film directed by David Koepp and written by Eric Aronson. The film is adapted from the novel series Mortdecai (specifically its 1972 first installment Don't Point that Thing at Me) written by Kyril Bonfiglioli. It stars Johnny Depp in the title role and features Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany and Jeff Goldblum. Released by Lionsgate on January 23, 2015, Mortdecai was a box office flop, grossing $47.3 million against its estimated $60 million budget, and was critically panned. Plot Lord Charlie Mortdecai, an 'art dealer' and swindler, is accosted in Hong Kong by one of his victims, a gangster named Fang. Jock, Mortdecai's faithful manservant, extricates his master before they can be killed. Returning to London, Mortdecai and his wife, Johanna, consider ways to pay off their crushing tax debt. At the same time in Oxford, a painting by Francisco Goya becomes the target of an elaborate theft, resulting in the murder of an art restorer. Inspector Alistair Martland is put on the case. He, in love with Johanna since college, puts pressure on Mortdecai to assist him. Martland believes the prime suspect to be Emil Strago. Mortdecai agrees to help in exchange for 10% of the insurance money. Mortdecai interviews people affiliated with the art world, including Spinoza, an art smuggler. While they argue, Strago arrives and shoots at them, killing Spinoza; Mortdecai escapes unharmed, although he accidentally shoots Jock in the process. Johanna meets with 'The Duke', who knows the thief and says that the painting conceals the location of a hoard of Nazi gold. Mortdecai is kidnapped by thugs working for a Russian named Romanov because they think that Mortdecai has the painting. Romanov threatens torture unless Mortdecai surrenders it, but he escapes through a window with Jock.