The Family That Slays Together Stays Together

Rating: Null/10 (12 November 2007)

Mr & Mrs Smith is a typical Hollywood summer blockbuster that relies more on the star qualities of its leads than on any attempt at a logical involving storyline or depth of characterisation. Not so much sidestepping as completely ignoring the myriad number of difficulties a pair of married assassins would have concealing their professions from one another, the film quickly establishes that Mr (Brad Pitt) and Mrs (Angelina Jolie) Smith's marriage is submerged deep within the doldrums through one of two straight-to-camera counselling sessions that bookend the tale. Of course, their ignorance of their shared profession is what is killing off their marriage, thus reinforcing the jokey old adage about the family that slays together stays together.
The film's saving grace is that, by placing itself squarely in a world in which the couple work for blatantly ridiculous killing corporations, it refuses to take itself seriously. This is a mix of James Bond gadgetry and Mission Impossible missions, and on this superficial and unchallenging level it works well, and the manner in which the couple are situated within a recognisably normal suburban environment is cute. However, if it's an engaging story or an involving world in which you wish to immerse yourself then you're better off passing this one by. At more than two-hours its way too long, and its tenuous link with reality is broken completely for a final-reel denouement that is as forced as it is farcical.