Movie Review: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

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By Joshua Tyler Jun 8, 2005, 22:20 GMT

The premise is simple enough: think War of the Roses meets True Lies. John Smith (Brad Pitt) is a spy and hasn’t told his wife Jane (Angelina Jolie). Jane doesn’t know John sneaks out at night to play assassin, because she’s busy doing the same. After years of marriage, their once hot and heavy romance has grown stale as in Jane’s words, “the space between us fills up with all the things we don’t say to one another”. The film opens with a surprisingly engaging therapy montage where John incorrectly pegs the length of their relationship at five or six years, much to Jane’s chagrin. Kinsberg’s script is in no rush to get to the killing, and spends plenty of time on chuckle-worthy little sequences like this while it drifts towards the payoff: all out war between husband and wife. Eventually, as we knew they would, the pair discover each other’s secret lives at competing spy agencies. Directed by their respective organizations to terminate one another they begin an assassination campaign in the living room. It starts out tentatively at first, with neither sure how far to take it. But things quickly escalate into a vicious bloodbath of shotguns, car collisions, and exploding elevators. Though the battling spouses subject matter is similar, Mr. and Mrs. Smith lacks the downbeat sensibility of War of the Roses, leaving our not so happy couple a path to reconciliation as they predictably team up against the shadow operations pulling their strings. It’s here that Liman’s movie could have gone to pieces, with the Smiths’ inevitable partnership evoking traumatic memories of the failed Antonio Banderas vehicle Ecks vs Sever. After all, the fun is in watching Pitt and Jolie go at it, not in some half-cocked romance.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t Angelina Jolie’s path back to award winning acting. It’s another throwaway action movie for her, the sort of thing she can do in her sleep. I miss the days when she was a brilliantly talented actress, and plan to keep looking for her to return to heady stuff like Gia. Until she wakes up and starts turning down massive paychecks, at least she’s landed in a movie that works. It’s interesting to note that while for most of its running time Mr. and Mrs. Smith pops with a lot of energy, it fades out at the end with a bit of a whimper. That’s a problem shared with Liman’s other action picture, The Bourne Identity and something he needs to get over if he’s ever going to make anything better. Still, for the most part Liman holds the film steady, , capably mixing his comfortable high-energy style with Kinsberg’s light and entertaining wit. Mr. and Mrs. Smith is this year’s Italian Job or Bourne Identity, only with a little more comedy thrown in. Check it off as another nice, mid-sized action movie that’ll please audiences and make a nice showing at the box office, only to be forgotten a few months later. There’s nothing wrong with a little shallow entertainment, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith is buoyant enough to deliver. You can view stills and other media from the movie in our database. Visit this page for premiere photos.Copyright 2005 CinemaBlend.com

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ReviewJun 9th, 2005 - 07:52:11

My personal review is - I will not see the movie for what it is. I will see it to check how much they have cheated. So there goes down the drain their acting review. Now we all think about their cheating games while filming - and that is what comes up when i see the movie - IF i see the movie.

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moviesJun 9th, 2005 - 15:05:54

hi guys, i won't pay for this movie - i knew it was doomed from the start... this is where brad pitt started cheating on his wife, so not my cup of tea.

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ReviewJun 10th, 2005 - 16:16:47

Why don't I review the movie for them - everybody said the movie is not really gigli but it is simply one of those movies which you don't call nice or bad... but their 'chemistry' did favour for this very far from interesting film. so, well, isn't that a prove that they actually cheated?

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EntertainmentJun 10th, 2005 - 20:08:38

If Brad Pitt was cheating on his wife, is that our problem? Last time I checked that did not affect MY marital status!The movie seems entertaining, and I am definitely going to watch it! Its a good thing they have chemistry! I think they need it in order to deliver a good performance as a married couple. I enjoyed the Bourne Identity and Swingers, and I am pretty sure I will enjoy this new Liman film. The heck with the actors' personal life, that's really NOT MY PROBLEM!

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Brad's broJun 16th, 2005 - 15:03:33

I think this reviewer is Brad's brother - you are saying it is entertaining even before you saw the movie! You must be his dear brother in deed. Dear Entertainment, still, you can go & see this movie hundred times but nothing will stop you from being disappointed. You will see Brangelina as very very helpless poor actors who simply were trying to impress each other. Especially Brad, he totally is lusting and saliving over Angelina - believe me, if you see this movie, you will definitely know Brad cheated on his wife, in addition to the movie's boringness and noisyness

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Movie Review: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

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