- Ever wonder what would happen if two superspy-assassins unknowingly married each other? Nope, me neither. I can honestly say that thought never crossed my mind. Still, if anybody should explore such a possibility, it may as well be the director of The Bourne Identity, Doug Liman. Certainly we can all agree that this would not have been good material for Paul Greengrass. And such a film probably should star Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, two beautiful people who also generally improve any film in which they appear. Sure, it's not a terribly inspired product, but enough good choices were made that Mr. and Mrs. Smith proves to be quite fun to watch.
- As mentioned, the basic premise is that the seemingly generic married couple John (Pitt) and Jane (Jolie) Smith each lead secret lives in which they kidnap, kill, and/or blow people up for a living. More importantly, they actually work for opposing uber-secret shadow agencies that are in competition with one another. Jane's organization is by far the more impressive; think Charlie's Angels scaled up and with Keith David as the faceless leader. John's company, on the other hand, could hardly be called organized, as it is run out of a small office building with the help of a strange man-child named Eddie (Vince Vaughn). As it happens, the two organizations reflect the personalities of their employees, as Jane tends to employ stealth, skill, and tactics in her work while John goes with...well, let's call it the brute force approach.
- While their unique domestic arrangement has worked well enough for the past five (or was it six?) years, trouble arrives when John and Jane both get assigned the same target, a mysterious prisoner nicknamed "The Tank" (Adam Brody). Now anybody who has seen this guy should probably be suspicious of a trap since nobody would ever christen him "Tank" in a non-ironic manner, but John and Jane faithfully accept their assignments. Problem is, they run into one another out on the field and, there's just no easy way to say this, end up trying to kill each other. Needless to say, this leads to some tension at home. On the other hand, it's never really been clear whether John and Jane actually love each other or whether they are simply using one another as cover stories. Maybe this is just what their relationship needs?
- To get right to the point, if you're looking for a serious spy story, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a silly action movie in which a husband and wife spend half the time trying to shoot and stab one another, then this may be your film. While Vince Vaughn should never be cast as anything other than a frat boy, the rest of the cast is pleasantly entertaining and perfectly adequate. Jolie, in particular, proves that she absolutely earned her unofficial title as the go-to action heroine of the 2000's. And hey, didn't we all learn a few things about what goes into a happy marriage?
- This is like entry 5,000 in the "Keith David is Awesome!" record.
- This movie has nothing to do with Hitchcock's film of the same title, which is just as well.
