Regarding ’Mr. & Mrs. Smith’

Editor’s Note: Published on Page A2-2 of the June 9 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

INTENSE and controversial Hollywood A-listers Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are a scorchingly pretty duo, to be sure. Between them, they have all the fan bases covered. So putting them together in one movie is sheer casting genius.

The team-up and concept works in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." We all have seen Pitt and Jolie as gun-toting and super-articulate action figures before; the two of them playing assassins wasn’t too much of a stretch. But to have two top-notch killers-for-hire married to each other and discovering the fact after several years of complete secrecy and growing boredom provides the actors with plenty of offbeat situations.

Chemistry

Pitt and Jolie’s on-screen chemistry translates rather well, flavoring the working tandem of Simon Kinberg’s screenplay and Doug Liman’s direction. Generically named characters John and Jane are accessibly mundane people, but they’re also efficient mercenaries that moviegoers can get attached to right after suspending disbelief that the spouses managed to keep their secret identities from each other for so long.

It’s actually hard to take sides when they try to kill each other! It’s fun, seeing this already-fantastical situation escalate into a "Spy Versus Spy" melee, often peppered by charmingly cheesy one-liners.

It’s an action-packed romantic comedy with shades of "War of the Roses," "Bonnie and Clyde" and the twisted, flirty and violent relationships of quite a number of iconic TV and comic book heroes and anti-heroes (Buffy and Spike, Batman and Catwoman and Daredevil and Elektra, to name a few). Jolie and Pitt were able to incorporate subtleties as well as calculating cruelty into Jane and John, which make the love-hate relationship a particularly dynamic one. Weeks of action training didn’t go to waste either, as the two looked credible enough, stunts-wise.

The action shots don’t look clumsy, even when Jolie and Pitt are just dancing together. They’re able to maintain a very kinetic vibe throughout the film, but their quiet moments are all the more personality-shaping, thanks to Liman. The director’s strong suit has always been characterization, and that’s also particularly helpful on supporting characters played by Vince Vaughn and Adam Brody.

There’s nothing deep or emotionally binding about "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," but it’s appealing on an almost visceral level. You also get to see two of the sexiest people on the planet together and there are gunfights and explosions galore. These aren’t half-bad reasons to watch it.

And they’re a very watchable couple indeed, those devilish, gorgeous Smiths.

The film: predictable, uninspiring By Anna Paloma, Contributor

"MR. & MRS. Smith" is a highly anticipated film because Brad and Angelina are rumored to have not only played Mr. and Mrs. Smith but also made attempts to play Mr. and Mrs. Pitt in a relationship that is perceived to have ended Brad’s marriage to the real Mrs. Pitt, Jennifer Aniston.

No, this is not the remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1941 comedy flick of the same title, but both films concern couples in failing marriages. In the current "Mr. And Mrs. Smith," the premise is simple. John and Jane Smith may seem to be a typical upper-class suburban couple but each provides cover for the other’s clandestine career as an international world-class assassin. When they are double-booked on the same target, their identities are revealed and protocol requires that they take each other out.

Bruckheimer-ish

The movie starts with a bit of humor, some decent action scenes, a bit of intrigue and some interesting clue as to where the story is going. But it ends up being a loud, car-crashing, gun-shooting type, almost something you would expect in a Jerry Bruckheimer production. In two words, predictable and uninspiring.

When director Doug Liman focused on the characters and their non-traditional relationship, he was on safe ground. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie smolder, and their chemistry couldn’t be better. Whether they’re shooting at each other, tossing around double entendres, or ripping each other’s clothing off, Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s two stars are sexy and magnetic (individually and together). Foreplay for the Smiths involves not only disrobing, but disarming, and the screenplay gives the actors plenty of delicious lines to chew on.

Too much

Unfortunately, the script also calls for too much action, and that’s where everything falls apart. The film has so much action padding, it becomes tiresome after a while. Liman tries to juice things up by using atypical camera angles and innovative fight choreography, as he did in "The Bourne Identity." But the film doesn’t have the decency to render a legitimate payoff. It just ... ends.

I must say "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is not that great a movie. I’m sure it opened well, but I don’t see it having staying power. It reminds me of "The Mexican," another movie that starred two Hollywood heavyweights, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts: much drummed up but disappointing.