Really dumb and silly but quite breezy fun if you are in the mood for it

Rating: Null/10 (17 July 2005)

John and Jane have been married for five or six years and pretty much have the American ideal; they live in a big home in a nicely white and middle-class suburb, they both drive nice cars and both have very good careers. Sure they have problems in their marriage but outwardly they look great and they are getting counselling for the lack of spark anyway. The real problems probably come from the fact that, unbeknownst to one another, he is not really a building contractor and she is not really a computer expert, really they are both professional killers working for different companies. This is all well and good until they both get sent to do the same job and narrowly miss killing one another. Discovering the other's secret identity, they both assume that the other is only in the marriage to get information and mark the other so neither has a choice but to try and kill the other first.
From the plot summary alone you've probably got the idea that this is not the film to come for if you are in a cerebral mood. The plot is rather silly to say the least, the action OTT and the whole thing is utterly unconvincing and unengaging. However it is all rather fun and entertaining in a big, dumb, noisy summer blockbuster sort of a way. On this level it is possible to just take it as it comes, ignore the lack of substance and be taken in by the slick style with which it is all carried off. It helps that all those involved know to deliver it with their tongues in their cheeks, so it never looks stupid, it knows it is silly but it also knows that it is entertaining and, in the summer market, that is all it is required to be doing. The result is that it all moves forward quickly and constantly with an air of slick confidence that produces funny lines and plenty of big noisy action.
Of course it is not the film to bring your brain to, because if you think about it you have lost the point and will no enjoy it. I found myself thinking once or twice and forced myself to just get lost in the film as a product that than a story. I thought about how the characters were more about the celebrities than the writing, but this didn't matter because that was part if the appeal of the film. I thought about how the action lacked any tension or anything to really hook me in, but that was mainly because the film and characters had no substance below the slick exterior, so the action matched that approach. I also found some of the scenes of violence a bit hard to take - was I the only one who watched this married couple punching and shooting each other and thought how the real sufferers of domestic violence would not appreciate such a sensual and funny look at the subject? Like I said though, I nipped these thoughts in the bud because the film is not about the detail, it is about the glossy finish - the engine of this car might have been a couple of badgers on a treadmill, but the bodywork had definitely been "pimped"!
With such a glossy vehicle, it was important to have a couple of really sexy stars who have chemistry to carry off the silly nonsense. Fortunately the stars are textbook for that type of stuff. Pitt has been slickly moving through Ocean's 11/12 and Jolie is sexy/sassy personified. Individually they keep the quips coming, never take it seriously at any point and manage to make knife wounds, bruises and wounds sexy and cool. Together they both seem to get the joke and their slick deliveries go really well together; I could not care less about the whole "are they/aren't they" gossip column nonsense but they really did make this product work by turning up the "slick" quotient to 11. For me personally though I felt that Vaughn stole the show by doing his usual stuff - he is consistently funny and his rougher character made for a really nice contrast to the endlessly slick delivery in every other section.
It is all nonsense of course and I had started to forget it the moment I left the cinema, but it does what it sets out to do pretty well; not to make you think, not to provide realism, not to be tense, not to engage your emotions but simply to provide a slick, funny film that lives entirely on the surface and never stops moving in case you notice this. This it all does well and, for all the problems with it, it is indeed sexy, smart, funny, noisy and enjoyable. Not great by any means but will certainly keep the target audience happy.