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Mr. & Mrs. Smith |
 r. & Mrs. Smith
(John and Jane, respectively) is a relationship film masquerading as an
action movie. It starts Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and the bleeding,
dying ghost of Jennifer Aniston's love, and is a fun little romp
propelled almost entirely by snappy editing, bright colors, and the
tremendous chemistry between the two leads.The plot, if you're somehow unaware of it at this point, is that Pitt and Jolie are a married couple who have grown very bored of their safe, plain lives. Each believes that the other has a normal job, when in actuality they are both super assassins, jetting around the world to pull off hired murders before returning home just in time for their next banal dinner party. Eventually and inevitably, they discover each other's secret identity and turn their guns on each other. Will they rediscover their love through near death? Will they join forces against the anonymous enemies who are now after both of them? Will there be lots of gunplay? What do you think? To the scores: Mr. & Mrs. SmithThis one was tricky for me to score, since so many of the totals were very mixed. For example, the action was very good, for what it was. By that I mean what you saw on the screen of the gun play, driving, fighting, infiltration, etc was pleasing to the eye. At the same time, 90% of the action was completely ludicrous, in terms of whether or not it could actually happen like that in any dimension even remotely like our own. I'll go into more detail in a moment, but the action, like so many other aspects of this film, will work better the less thought you give to the logic behind it. Since quite often, there is none. I don't have a "chemistry" score on my ratings, but if I did this film would earn a 9 or 10, and it would be the only thing that kept this one afloat. Malaya made the point after we saw it, and I think it's fair to repeat, that this movie would have been a complete train wreck had it starred virtually any other pair of actors. I'm sure some other male and female leads could have pulled it off, but none leap to mind, and since almost the entire plot requires you to suspend your disbelief with a crane, it's essential that you believe that Pitt and Jolie really are in love and really are half crazy as they consider killing each other. The whole movie does not work, but what does work would not work at all if it were not for the two leads meshing so well. Pitt and Jolie are great together, and even the scenes where they're just suffering through a miserable suburban dinner together have a sort of crackle to them. This film is probably the best evidence yet that all romantic leads should have an affair during filming, for the good of the project. Further comments: Script/Story: 6 The first of my very conflicted scores. The script for the dialogue and actions of Pitt and Jolie was great. Lots of nice comedy bits, lots of nice relationship touches, realistic in their actions and reactions to most things, etc. The rest of the script, in terms of the overall plot, the actions of other characters, the way the fight scenes worked, etc, was completely absurd. Plot holes everywhere, physical impossibilities in every action scene, completely stupidity in almost every scenario, and so on. I can't discuss it further without going into major spoilers, but there's just no way not to spend the last hour of the film thinking, "Why didn't they just do _______." and "No one would ever do ______." and so on. Acting/Casting: 9 As I've been saying, this is what makes the film. Pitt and Jolie are both nearly perfect in their roles, and while either of them would have been good on their own, they are just electric together. As good a romantic pairing as I've ever seen on screen. Action: 7 Another mixed one. As I briefly alluded to above, the action is fun and lively and visually-pleasing, on that level. If you want it to make sense and be logical and realistic, you're out of luck, since it's nearly as full of physical impossibilities as cartoonish films like Charlie's Angels. I read a bit in Entertainment Weekly that there were initially two head bad guys, directing the plotting against the Smiths. They tested poorly though, and were completely axed from the final film. I can't say whether or not that improved the movie, but test audiences seemed to think it did, and we might as well trust their judgment. I can speculate that their removal is a large source of why so little of this film makes sense, though. As it is the bad guys are about as real and grounded as the enemies you blow away in a computer game. There are hundreds of them, all anonymously clad in black, all wearing masks, all driving black cars or flying in black helicopters, and they pop up as needed, die bloodlessly, and are instantly replaced by dozens more, just in time to be mowed down by the Smiths as they trade innuendo-laced banter and look cool reloading their guns. Did you ever see Commando, the Arnie film? Think about the last half hour of that, during which he blows away maybe 150 soldiers, most of them at point blank range, while simply ignoring the thousands of machine gun bullets and dozens of grenades that blow up all around him. Arnie is basically playing Command on "god mode" and that's pretty well what the Smiths do in their film as well, though at least Arnie made some effort to duck and hide from time to time, as he took cover behind such bulletproof objects as rose bushes and chain link fences. You get the idea. Humor: 6 This all comes from the clever dialogue and character treatments in the script, and it's all predicated on the Smith's chemistry. Several people were laughing aloud during the entire film, I mean like non-stop, and while I didn't find it that funny, I was amused and appreciative of the dialogue. It was somewhat reminiscent of the best of Moonlighting, where Bruce Willis and Kathleen Turner had some cracklingly-sparring dialogue and chemistry going. Eye Candy: 7 Another mixed score. The two leads are undeniably gorgeous, regularly being voted the #1 most beautiful man and woman on earth in those completely-scientific tabloid mag polls. There is some lovely architecture too, as each of the leads inhabits their James Bond-styled secret offices and plays with their hardware. Other than that though, there movie isn't much to look at. Most of the action takes place in the suburbia of upstate New York, or else in a distant and dry desert, and neither of those locations, or the various interior sets, are anything special to look at. So give this one a 9 for the people, and a 4 for most of the sets, and average it out with weighting applies to the human aspect. Fun Factor: 6 If the plot had made a bit more sense and hadn't forced me to overlook so many totally illogical things, I'd have had more fun. As it was I enjoyed the film, but was always aware of the disbelief I was working to keep suspended, and that's never much fun. Replayability: 5 Another mixed score. Right now I've got no desire to see it again, since I mostly remember the dumb stuff and figure I'd fixate on that during a second viewing. Malaya's eager to see the unrated director's cut version though, with the PG-13 edits removed and some much hotter sex included, and I can envision this one really growing on me once it's on DVD, and I have come to terms with the plot holes and can begin ignoring them and just enjoying the other aspects of the film. Overall: 6 While I admire the acting and some of the action, there are simply too many gaping plot and logic holes for me to give this one a higher score. The romance and relationship stuff is very solid and extremely well-acted, and the action scenes themselves are fun. If the plot had even made a hint of sense and hadn't been constructed in intentionally-illogical form to keep the scenes flowing, I'd have been happy to give this one a higher score. As it is I can't really recommend it, unless you're confident that you'll be able to overlook all the silly stuff and just enjoy the acting and romantic chemistry. |
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