Johnny Depp's Mortdecai slammed by critics as 'psychotically unfunny'

He's one of Hollywood's highest paid stars but Johnny Depp's box office appeal has taken another critical hit as the comedy Mortdecai opens in America and Britain.

The film sees Depp star as charismatic aristocrat and shady art dealer Charlie Mordecai, who is hired by MI5 to find a stolen painting.

But while the film is billed as an action comedy, critics have found little to laugh about, with Britain's Telegraph newspaper labelling the film "psychotically unfunny".

Film reviewer Robbie Collin pulled no punches as he wrote: "It's hard to think of a way in which the experience of watching the new Johnny Depp film could be any worse, unless you returned home afterwards to discover that Depp himself had popped round while you were out and set fire to your house.

"This is comfortably the actor's worst film since Alice in Wonderland, and even dedicated fans will find their hearts shrivelling up like week-old party balloons at its all-pervading air of clenched desperation."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a score of just 7% - one of the lowest on the entire website and easily making it the worst film of 2015.

Industry bible Variety describes the film as "obstinately unfunny", with critic Guy Lodge writing: "There's a fatal shortage of zingers to supplement its exhausting zaniness. Only particularly dedicated devotees of Johnny Depp's latter-day strain of mugging - here channeling Austin Powers by way of P.G. Wodehouse - will delight in this expensive-looking oddity."

Gwyneth Paltrow and Johnny Depp star in Mortdecai

While Kyle Smith of the New York Post writes: "Mortdecai is mortdifying, a mortdal sin of a movie that's headed for the cinematic mortduary."

Before ending with: "Mortdecai typifies playful English wit in much the same way as Wimbledon is known for its monster truck rallies.

It's bad news for the actor, who has suffered a string of box office flops recently, including The Lone Ranger and Dark Shadows.

Last year, Depp came second in Forbes magazine's list of Hollywood's most overpaid actors, behind Adam Sandler.

Mortdecai opens in New Zealand next Thursday.

- nzherald.co.nz