Movie Review: Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Starring: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Adam Brody, Kerry Washington
Directed By: Doug Liman
I wasn't that excited to see this flick when it was first released, despite (or, perhaps as a result of) the mega-advertising blitz surrounding it. I've been a fan of other Brad Pitt flicks, as well as the work of director Doug Liman. I also think Angelina Jolie is pretty sexy, in a just-blew-her-dealer kind of way. Despite all that, my desire to see this flick was pretty muted (which would be why I've just seen it now for the first time), mostly because I just don't find attempted spousal homicide as much fun as I used to. Maybe now that I'm married I've gone soft or something, but all the ads showing how much fun it is when a husband and wife spend a movie trying to kill each other just didn't speak to me.
Since it didn't cost anything, I decided to watch it last night. If I could get past my hang-ups, I figured it would as least be fun. As the movie progressed, I felt that it was fairly fun. Perhaps too glossy, but not completely devoid of charm. Both leads were engaging, and filmed in a way that showed that Liman never forgot that the film would live and die by the sex appeal of Pitt and Jolie. It also had a few deft touches of coy interplay between the two characters that suggested that this film might even be a bit clever, by summer blockbuster standards.
Then came the scene when assassin John Smith (Pitt) and assassin Jane Smith (Jolie) each discover that the other is a rival assassin, thus revealing the web of lies their (five or) six year marriage had been. Assigned with the task of eliminating each other over interference in a hit, the two begin their cat and mouse game of kill tactics. I gotta tell you, it didn't really bother me that much. The movie had done a good job in establishing that their marriage had been mostly a sham up until that point, with each character more dedicated to their jobs than each other. So when it came time for the two to fight, I wasn't that skeeved out by it, since I didn't buy that they were ever in love anyway.
Instead, it was the over-the-top violence and effects that put me off of a movie I had been enjoying up until that point. It began when Jolie was forced to evacuate her office as Pitt pursued her in it. The method of escape for her and her co-horts (including Kerry Washington) was so ridiculously unrealistic that I couldn't do anything else but roll my eyes. I gave the flick a mulligan for that one though, and continued, realising that I hadn't signed up for high art when I popped this in my DVD player. Then came John and Jane's big one-on-one battle. Again, it wasn't so much the punching and shooting between husband and wife that bothered me as much as it they're turning their suburban home into downtown Beirut, and not later being swarmed by a couple SWAT teams in the middle of it. For a couple of highly accomplished assassins, they didn't seem to have much idea about staying low-profile.
It was pretty much downhill from there, especially in the inevitable reconciliation where they decide to stop fighting because of their love. As I said before, I wasn't bothered by the spousal violence precisely because I didn't believe they were in love. So when they eventually held back because of their love, I was forced to ask myself "what love?". There were some exciting fight and chase sequences to follow, which were entertaining, but nothing you hadn't seen before in other action films.
It isn't so much that Mr. and Mrs. Smith is an insult to your intelligence as viewer, it's more that it seems to assume that it's audience wouldn't have any to begin with. Around the mid-way point, it went from being fun and a little clever, to fun but dumb. Which I don't generally find that much fun at all. It was sexy, exciting, big, and loud, and ultimately, forgettable. I'd say the stars were slumming it here, but really, that diagnoses only applies to Pitt and Liman. Vince Vaughn gave his standard-Vaughn cameo here, Adam Brody basically played Seth Cohen, and as far as Jolie goes, this is probably a step up from Tomb Raider movies. Hell, looking at her filmography, this very well may be the best thing she's ever done. Why exactly is she so famous?
2.5/5
Related:
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Wedding Crashers (2005)