Lies, Damn Lies

Mr and Mrs smith

There's a bad film. I watched this last night, hoping I might see something at least vaguely agreeable. I did not. This is a stupid, stupid film, that appears to exist in a fantasy world which undermines much of its point.

The concept, two assassins in rival agencies married and not knowing of their lives, is entertaining enough, and part of this idea is the notion of mixing the mundane and the fantastic. They live mad secret lives, but they must be secret. If they, say, started carrying out massive gun fights in the middle of the city, one might suppose someone would notice. The police do turn up at the main characters door's once, but are quickly led off, and after a massive massacre later in the film, no questions are asked about the police maybe turning up.

The plot is ridiculous. While initially it sort of makes sense (with the agents being told to kill each other, fine), after the "twist" it is revealed that both agencies want them dead. OK... so why not just kill them earlier on? These agencies have seemingly infinite resources, and had the element of surprise, and seem to go to unnecessarily elaborate lengths to kill two people they could have just shot in the back long ago. This becomes more ludicrous as the Smiths proceed to kill dozens of agents sent to dispatch them with stupid ease (seriously, at the end they jump out in slow motion, exactly like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Except they kill everyone shooting at them. Mostly by STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM AND SHOOTING!).

All this could be forgiven if the film was particularly funny, but it really wasn't. Occasionally there were a few jokes that hit home, but mostly this was a soulless affair. This film is what happens when the producers buy the talent first, then get a film later.

Labels: film, review

posted by Mr K @ 9:57 am