Twist endings are a tricky proposition. When executed successfully, they give the film a bravura finish that will have people talking for years to come. But that’s rare. More often than not, they leave the audience confused and frustrated. The Tourist is a charming albeit forgettable trifle of a film that chooses to throw an unnecessary and maddeningly stupid twist at the audience. It’s a twist ending that not only blows up in the movie’s face, but blows it’s face clean off, turning a pretty veneer into a mangled pile of “Are you kidding me?’ and “That makes no goddamned sense.”


The film begins with the financial crimes unit of Scotland Yard trailing Elise Ward (Angelina Jolie), the most beautiful, confident, and well-attired woman in the world. Possessing the beauty of a goddess and a look that screams “I will never have sex with you,” Elise is trying to throw the cops off her trail so that they’ll stop chasing her husband, Alexander Pierce, a mob banker who stole billions from his boss. The British government is in on the chase because 744 million of that amount belonged to them (why the mobster has that money is never explained). Despite their surveillance, Pierce is still easily able to communicate with Elise through letters and he informs her that she needs to find a stranger with his height and build so that the cops (who don’t know what Pierce looks like) will trail the poor stranger. It’s an elaborate set-up for what seems like a minor diversion.