An Interesting Take on Modern Middle-American Family Values

Rating: Null/10 (19 January 2006)

Having earned his action-adventure spurs helming 'The Bourne Identity', and it's serving as Producer on it's sequel, the excellent 'The Bourne Supremacy', it's no surprise that Doug Liman should deliver a focused, energetic product in 'Mr & Mrs Smith'. Like the Hitchcock flick from which it borrows it's title (and the names of a fair number of supporting characters  'though somehow I don't think this is supposed to be a remake of Hitch's only screwball comedy), this is a vehicle which eschews the dark side, and establishes itself as a romantic-comedy early on. It lacks the pitch-black comedy of it's nearest cinematic relation, John Houston's 'Prizzi's Honour', or the emotional subtlety of George Armitage's 'Grosse Point Blank', but it's an engaging-enough romp for all that. Mind you, the words are by Simon Kinberg  previously a script-doctor on such stellar catastrophes as 'Elektra' and 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'  so a lack of subtlety is hardly a great surprise.
The plot is a no-brainer. A bored young couple discover that they are assassins working for rival agencies when each is assigned the task of killing the other. In their increasingly manic attempts to off each other they discover the true love lurking beneath the lies. Hmmm. 'True Lies' and 'War of the Roses' join the crib-sheet. That much is in the trailer. There's really little new, here: this is almost an anti-Bourne, the characters are amoral and mercenary and the action is provided in a succession of gleefully destructive set pieces, rather than arising out of plot-driven necessity. That said, the Smith's boredom when placed amongst their suburban neighbours (killers are not social animals), and the final scenes  in which that great shrine of American consumerism, the Department Store, is decimated by the newly reconciled spouses  could be read as a critique (of sorts) of the trappings of domestic 'bliss'.
It's a star-vehicle, and one which delivers exactly what we expect. Brad Pitt wears a lot of smart-but-casual gear, takes his shirt off regularly, and pouts in a manner likely to please many a young lady in the audience. For the boys, Angelina Jolie is back in Lara Croft mode, strutting her stylishly sexy stuff in Prada and PVC. She also pouts a great deal. Poor Brad's pales in comparison. Much the better actor of the pair, and possessed of rather more natural screen-presence than Pitt, it's notable that she's given rather less screen-time, but there is a chemistry between the leads, and neither Liman allows neither to dominate the movie in it's totality. They work very well together.
It's not a bad movie, and it has some genuinely funny moments. I liked it far more than I thought I would. Given Liman's track-record, though, it's a slight shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to make a more satiric film.