Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Mr. & Mrs. Smith explodes with flaming chemistry but assassinated its own script. “Brangelina”. Without Liman’s standard action comedy, we wouldn’t have had the power couple that dominated the tabloids. Several children wouldn’t have been adopted and brought up in a completely different, yet financially stable, environment. Jolie wouldn’t have been the charitable humanitarian she is now. And Shiloh’s first baby photograph wouldn’t have amassed over ten million dollars worldwide. Wow! Suffice to say, the two most beautiful humans in Hollywood have a substantial amount of gratitude to show Liman for his efforts in pairing them. If only his energetic vibrancy was enough to power the lacklustre screenplay, the balance of action and comedy could’ve been a landmark within the sub-genre. A bored upper middle class married couple are astonished to learn that they work for differing assassination organisations, soon to be assigned to kill each other.

It’s your standard marriage. Winning a teddy bear at a carnival, falling in love whilst buying the most expensive mansion on the street, succumbing to the same mundane daily routine, destroying the house with an almighty shootout followed by a gas explosion, participating in the feistiest erotic love-making scene ever and naturally ending in marriage counselling. A cruel irony for “Brangelina”, maybe they should’ve watched the film they made together? Cynicism aside, what truly elevates the memorability of this feature is the onscreen (and offscreen, bow chicka wow wow...) chemistry of its leading stars. Jolie and Pitt are exceptionally effortless with their comedic timing, dramatic endeavours and high-octane action. The lightning-fast wit that they inject into Kinberg’s less than impressive script is nothing short of, well, impressive. They make the film. They are the film. And they certainly have solid taste in curtains.

Liman maintains a light tone throughout, never dabbling into the cracks of the marriage which is vita...

Average performances, average script. What did you expect?

Been a long time since I last watched this and while not great, was certainly entertaining thanks to the charisma and chemistry between Pitt and Jolie and the action from director Doug Liman was well done. Kind of had a weird ending with no resolution with their respective agencies going after them. 3.5/5

Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s experienced director and cast make it the peak of the spy versus spy romantic comedy genre.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith shares a similar romantic spy versus spy plot as movies like This Means War, Killers, and Knight and Day. However, a significant difference is that Mr. & Mrs. Smith came out 5-7 years before the rest and is hands down the best of the group. Doug Liman was coming off his enormous success with The Bourne Identity and landed two of the biggest stars in Hollywood (especially at that time) to lead his next big spy action thriller. The script is a little clunky, but Jolie and Pitt’s chemistry and charisma carry the film. Car chases, explosions, hand-to-hand combat, gun fighting, and pretty much every other action movie element permeate every moment of the film with short pauses to laugh at Vince Vaughn’s ridiculous banter. The movie might be a little outrageous, but it’s a fun take on the spy genre from a director and actors who have proven they know the genre well.

This is another one of those greatly nuanced movies people just don't get. Viewers are expecting another run-of-the-mill action film so that's all they look for, and in doing that they miss so much more! The interplay between the characters, the subtext and the layering you can only fully appreciate after absorbing the film in its entirety is a thing of beauty. If all you get out of this is the action then I'm afraid that says more about you than the movie.

Awesome movie, and lots of action. I love how they try to hide that their in the same occupation from each other. Until they both end up going for the same person then things start to change.

The movie is a parody to action-spy movies. It is not about the action, but rather about the characters. The character interactions and relationships are perfect. There are so many little details, like one word or eye contact, that tell us everything.

Action scenes are great, except they are made to be funny and realistic in that way.

The story itself does not has many interesting twists, but nicely follows evolving characters.

Conclusion

This movie is not for people who wants to see pure big action. However, whoever enjoys well thought through comedy, this could be your cup of tea.