The Digest
John Smith is sitting in a therapists’ office. Next to him is his wife Jane. They are trying to figure out what is going wrong in their marriage – if you can call it a marriage. They are like ships passing in the night. And when they are on the same schedule they settle into a routine that rarely deviates. They don’t fight, they just settle down and discuss mundane topics. In order to find out what went wrong, they must go over their life together.
There is political turmoil in Bogotá, Colombia. There has been an assassination and the “Policia” is looking for tourist who are traveling alone. John is sitting at the bar by himself, just when the police start to question him, in walks Jane. She too is alone and the police want to question her as well. Their eyes meet across the room and out of necessity they latch on to each other and claim to be together. He tells the story of owning an engineering firm, which demands that he travel around the world for his clients. She tells the story of being a computer systems networking administrator and she too has to travel at a moment notices for her clients. 2 months after a whirlwind courtship, they are married and settle down into what becomes a boring life.
After 6 years of marriage things have mellowed out significantly. John and Jane work like a well oiled machine, Dancing out of each others way in the bathroom and kitchen. They sit down every day at 7 to eat dinner and go over the days activities then go to sleep. This mundane routine is about to change forever when they both get a special assignment.
See the truth of the matter is John and Jane are both assassins for opposing firms, but neither one of them knows that the other is a hired killer. This becomes a problem when they both go after the same target. Rules of the game dictate that this is a no-no and the rival killer must be taken out. As they both investigate from their end to find out who the rival was, it becomes increasingly apparent that each one feels that they know the rival. At the same time they arrive at the conclusion that their rival is their spouse. Neither one of them really wants to kill the other, but a series of misunderstanding place them square against one another.
Duty calls, but will their love outweigh their responsibilities and can they get it together before reinforcements are called into to take them both out.
The Dish
What a fun movie! I really enjoy smart movies that are made with and for adults. Like theThe Thomas Crown Affair one of the reasons Mr. And Mrs. Smith is so appealing to me is because it is a mature relationship. Not Britney Spears madly in love with Woody Allen, if you know what I mean? Add to that Snappy and Witty dialog; a dash of intrigue; a healthy does of action and you have one of the best movies of the summer. It has to be mentioned, the Onscreen chemistry between Brad and Angelina is undeniable.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen two people sizzle on the screen like that. They were so engrossing that you forget that they are pretty much the only people on the screen. Vince Vaughn and Kerry Washington have about 10-15 minutes total screen time.
Brad and Angelina also seemed like they were having a blast, which certainly added to my enjoyment. In fact, it was enough to make the more casual viewers to forget the sheer unbelievably of a husband and wife not getting an inkling of the truth after 6 years. I mean really. Come on. I know that there are plenty of cases of a spouse knowing next to nothing about their partner, but both of them? I don’t think so. That bothered me. Also weighing heavy was the big “Why?” I didn’t mention it earlier because I didn’t want to spoil anything, but why were they targeted? That is never really answered. I also found a lot of continuity issues, I dislike that inattention to detail. They live in New York, but have a freeway chase on a Los Angeles highway as evidenced by the signs that said “Los Angeles”. But as I said, this was not enough for me to hold anything against the movie.
The Directive
this is really the first “Must See” for the summer for those of you not interested in Star Wars or comic books.
I hope Brad and Angelina stay married to these charaters because I sure would love to see them again..
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Copyright Kamal "The Diva" Larsuel-Ulbricht, 2005
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Rated PG-13 ; running time of 123 minutes