Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Well, it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either. Unfortunately, this movie was ruined for me in some ways, mostly because of the ridiculous amount of press coverage that had nothing to do whatsoever with the actual film.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is everything one would expect after watching the previews. It mixes action scenes, some drama, and tongue-in-cheek dialogue into what ends up being a relatively entertaining film. The action scenes are well done and exciting, and the acting is also good, although I wouldn’t classify the roles as being very challenging. The humor is abundant and somewhat reminiscent of a James Bond film, as the characters remain nonchalant and airy even as bullets and grenades fly around, never once detracting from their ability to quip sarcastic remarks at each other.

The plot is also firmly established in the previews—John Smith (Brad Pitt) and Jane Smith (Angelina Jolie) are both highly skilled assassins working for competing agencies, and both maintain their secret identities from the other. At one point, their agencies hone in on the same target, and they are unknowingly sent off on the same mission. Inevitably, their covers are blown, and they are each given 48 hours to eliminate each other before they are marked as targets by their own agencies. Honestly, just about everything you see in the previews is what you get in the movie—there are alternating scenes where they fight and attempt to kill each other, all the while struggling with the emotions of assassinating someone they love. And oh yeah, they have lots of sarcastic banter during their attempts at spousal homicide. In fact, this is the only source of comedy the movie really uses.

There are several of these action/witty repartee scenes that take place at different locations, until finally the couple is forced to decide whether they will reconcile, thereby becoming targets of their own agencies, or whether they will separate and disappear. I won’t ruin it for you, but seriously, you shouldn’t be surprised at the ending of this movie. Luckily Brad Pitt is adept at this sort of role, and Angelina Jolie stands around looking beautiful, so it all seems to work rather well and is, as I said, entertaining. I was disappointed with the fact that there wasn’t very much Vince Vaughn, however, and I am still wondering what his purpose was in the movie. That dude from The O.C. (Adam Brody) was fairly entertaining in his brief scenes, and while I confess that I’ve only seen one or two episodes of the show, I’m fairly certain he was playing the same basic role. Regardless, the focus of the movie remains fixed almost solely on the Smiths, their action scenes, and yes, their blasted chemistry, which makes the film generally worth the price of admission.

Like I said, it wasn’t great, but it was definitely entertaining.