Eye For Film >> Movies >> Mr & Mrs Smith (2005) Film Review
Ah, finally a decent guide to marriage, as demonstrated by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Their method is a simple one. If at first you don't succeed, go at each other with every weapon in the house.
Mr & Mrs Smith is a tale of marriage and what happens when you decide to keep the biggest secret to yourself, which, in this case, is that they are both assassins. I have to admit that the fact neither suspected the other is a bit farfetched, since Mr Smith (Pitt) keeps an armory carefully concealed under his garden shed. Did Mrs Smith (Jolie) imagine he was really keen to become the neighbourhood's greatest gardener?
Anyway, they are going through a rough patch and decide to see a counsellor, which is where our story begins. The Smiths try to work through their problems and their boring lives, all the while carefully ducking in and out of the house to perform jobs. That is until they become each other's target.
The action is very entertaining, in the same way that it is in The Bourne Identity, another Doug Liman movie. Somehow he has mixed the perfect amount of laughter, action and romance to keep everyone happy. For the ladies, there's Brad and Vince Vaughn, as Brad's friend and fellow assassin, who doesn't actually do anything, and for the gentlemen, there's Angelina (lets-see-how-many-revealing-costumes-I-can-fit-into) Jolie and, believe me, she doesn't fail to look good.
This is not one of the greatest movies ever made, although enjoyable and definitely worth seeing. It shows that Liman is slowly moving up the Jerry Bruckheimer ladder - maybe not so much with the explosions, okay? The action sequences are well done and amazing to watch, as are the scenes where Brad and Angelina play off each other and deliver some amusing lines, particularly in the car chase when they take the time to go the finer points of their marriage, while assorted thugs are trying to turn their car into a sieve.
The only bad word I have to say concerns movie whore Vaughn, who doesn't really fit in, or go anywhere. Aside from this, Mr & Mrs S delivers on all levels.
Reviewed on: 11 Jun 2005