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Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)

Director: Doug Liman

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From Time Out London

The truth is a turn-on for bored married couple John and Jane Smith when they discover they’re both hired assassins, assigned to kill each other. Should they fight or fuck? Yes, sex and death are the predominant themes of this stylish but superficial actioner. Initially repressed by having to live a lie, Jane (Angelina Jolie) literally lets her hair down when her secret’s out, morphing from ice maiden into a killer sex bomb who makes frisking an act of seduction (‘It’s all John, baby,’ quips her husband – Brad Pitt – as she searches for a gun in his trousers).The couple’s dark, deadpan banter is amusing, particularly during a car chase in which they rapidly exchange some home truths. But there’s a coldness to their characters that is never resolved. These are remorseless trained killers who initially experience few qualms about killing even each other: their shoot-outs may be entertaining and well choreographed, but ultimately it’s hard to care whether they live or die.As for supporting characters, Vince Vaughn’s laid-back hitman is underused, as are the Smiths’ suburban neighbours. Jane’s glamorous, all-female hit squad is the stuff of kitsch fantasy, but played as straight drama it undermines the plot’s credibility. The story itself is minimal, the entire film recalling the final sequence in ‘Prizzi’s Honor’ – and despite Jolie’s likeable performance, she suffers in comparison to professional warring wife Kathleen Turner. While ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ puts up a good fight, it’d be trounced by ‘The War of the Roses’.

Author: AS 2005-06-06 12:40:54

Time Out London Issue 1816: June 8-15 2005