Film review: Operation Mincemeat
Star-studded war film about a real-life mission to fool the Nazis
If you’re after a “fun night out” and enjoyed Romancing the Stone (1984), this film might be just the ticket, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. Sandra Bullock plays Loretta Sage, an archaeologist turned romance novelist who is abducted by a villainous English media tycoon (Daniel Radcliffe), and taken to a “forgotten” Atlantic island to look for a priceless artefact that he believes is buried there. Before long though, the “dishy-but-dim model” (Channing Tatum) who features on Sage’s book jackets arrives on the scene, determined to “make life replicate art” by saving her life. Bullock and Tatum have “an easy, winning chemistry”, and Brad Pitt, playing an “alpha-male tracker”, steals the few scenes he is in, but they are all, alas, let down by Radcliffe, who’s been “thunderously miscast” as the baddie and exudes about as much menace as a “ham-and-cheese sandwich”.
Not so long ago, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph, a “splashy comedy in which two brand-name stars were amusingly marooned on a tropical isle” would have been a sure-fire hit. These days, this kind of silly, escapist fluff “almost looks quaint”. Yet the film could be described as “knowingly dated”, as it seems designed to make you wish they still made movies as “big, broad” and “cheesy” as this.
I wasn’t hugely charmed, said Donald Clarke in The Irish Times. The film is fun, but only “about 50%” as fun as it thinks it is, and there are also “outbreaks of extreme violence” that feel “puzzlingly incongruous”. For all that, it’s a “pleasure” to watch something so “unpretentiously light-hearted”, and I can think of “worse ways of easing away” an evening.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Five best ways to save money at the petrol pump
The Explainer You don't have to wait for petrol prices to fall to reduce your fuel costs
-
Exurbs: America's biggest housing trend you haven't heard of
Under the Radar Northeastern exurbs were the nation's biggest housing markets in 2024
-
How to enjoy a coolcation in Sweden
The Week Recommends You won't break a sweat on Lake Asnen or underground at the Adventure Mine
-
Nashville dining: Far more than barbecue and hot chicken
Feature A modern approach to fine-dining, a daily-changing menu, and more
-
Music Reviews: Coco Jones and Viagra Boys
Feature "Why Not More?" and "Viagr Aboys"
-
Art review: "Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes From Art"
Feature At the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, through Aug. 17
-
Laurence Leamer's 6 favorite books that took courage to write
Feature The author recommends works by George Orwell, Truman Capote and more
-
Book reviews: 'America, América: A New History of the New World' and 'Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson'
Feature A historian tells a new story of the Americas and the forgotten story of a pioneering preacher
-
A journey into Egypt's western desert
The Week Recommends There is much more to be found in Egypt when straying from the usual tourist destinations
-
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style: full of 'revelations and surprises'
The Week Recommends The Design Museum's sweeping collection of all things swimming contains hidden depths
-
The Ugly Stepsister: 'slyly funny' body-horror take on Cinderella
The Week Recommends Emilie Blichfeldt's cutting Norwegian revision of the classic fairy tale leaves no character unscathed