Johnny Depp‘s career has been filled with wonderful movies like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, Edward Scissorhands and the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Unfortunately, though, it’s also been filled with a handful of stinkers like The Astronaut’s Wife, The Ninth Gate and Mortdecai. Yet, it’s somewhere in between these two vastly different levels of quality where you can find some of Depp’s most interesting work, even if the material itself doesn’t make for the best of his films.
One of the famous actor’s appearances that hovers in the realm of underrated movies is 2009’s Public Enemies, which was directed by Michael Mann and stars other great actors like Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard and Jason Clarke. For those unfamiliar with the pic, it’s an American biographical crime drama that adapts the story of Bryan Burrough’s non-fiction novel, Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI. Set during the oppressively bleak era of the Great Depression, the story follows the notorious bank robber known as John Dillinger (Depp) as he’s tracked down by FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale).
While Public Enemies sits at a mediocre 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, that hasn’t stopped the film from occupying a spot on Netflix’s Top 10 movies list for over a week now. It isn’t the best drama to have graced the screen in the past few decades, but Johnny Depp and the supporting cast have all been widely praised for their charismatic and believable performances. And given that it’s still sitting at #5 on the aforementioned Top 10 list, it’s clear that it’s finding a bit of a second life on the streaming platform.
Tell us, though, have you checked out Public Enemies since it’s been on Netflix? And if so, did you enjoy it? Let us know by dropping a comment down below.