Destined to be a Novelty

Rating: 4/10 (15 April 2007)

Absurd but amusing action/comedy about a married couple who are both Rambo type executioners, employed by rival organizations, and chaos predictably ensues when they are each contracted to obliterate the other. Driven by its marquee star power (Pitt & Jolie), it's a bizarre concoction mingling elements of romantic fantasy as well as intense action film nonsense.
Pitt and Jolie do a fair, but not great job of adapting their real life romance to the screen. They trade trash talk and pillow talk barbs pretty well, but the characters they play never replace the actors on the screen (although this appears to be intentional). Other than their bantering, neither actor really is given much of a chance to show their acting chops, and are just thrown in front of a setting of special effects explosions as stars usually are in action flicks. There are wild chases and shoot-outs with faceless masked Ninja-costumed attackers, and lots of stuff gets blown to bits. There's an inevitable battle of the sexes fist-fight between the lovers, and implausible but humorous farce throughout. The mall elevator muzak sight gag is one of the better moments.
This film will certainly become a curiosity if the "Smith" actors go their separate ways, but is only mediocre on its own.