Mr. and Mrs. Smith - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution movie review

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'Mr. & Mrs. Smith': The stars have chemistry, the script doesn't

By ELEANOR RINGEL GILLESPIE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There are two ways to approach "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

Option A: In hopes it will be a movie with a well-structured plot, interesting characters and witty dialogue.

Option B: As a chance to gaze on the screen godliness of its stars, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Twentieth Century Fox

'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'

The verdict: The stars shine, but the script is lackluster at best.

Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Efren Ramirez
Run time: 116 minutes
Release date: June 10, 2005
Rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence, intense action, sexual content and brief strong language.
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Option B is definitely the way to go.

A project as tabloid-tossed as Bennifer and "Gigli" — with a tantalizing are-they-or-aren't-they addition — "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" hums along quite entertainingly in its first third. That's when we learn John and Jane Smith (Pitt and Jolie) met sexy in Bogota several years earlier, but now are blisslessly married, mired in suburbia and bored out of their minds.

Everything is a power struggle, from getting new curtains to who gets out of the driveway first. Even a minor matter like passing the salt at dinner becomes a clenched-teeth discussion over whether it's in the middle of the table or closer to Jane.

The problem is, they both lead a secret life they've kept from the other. The Smiths are actually highly trained assassins working for rival agencies.

As soon as their secrets are leaked, the movie starts to stumble. The middle part, in which each tries to do in the other before he/she is done in, is intermittently engaging — sort of like 1989's "The War of the Roses" tarted up with guns, explosions and car chases.

Unfortunately (if you chose Option A), the movie goes on for about another 40 minutes that tarnish its built-in starshine. After discovering make-up sex is even better if you've been shooting at each other, the two team up to pursue a mutual enemy. The couple that slays together stays together and all that.

Even the tabs haven't figured out what's going on off-screen between them; there's no question Jolie and Pitt have considerable onscreen chemistry. Sharing a potentially deadly dinner after their aliases are exposed, the stars play off each other with crisp comic timing. Just watch Pitt's face as he considers whether the martini Jolie has handed him is poisoned.

That said, on a scene by scene basis, Jolie wipes the screen with Pitt. Maybe that's because she gets better clothes. Or maybe it's because it really is true that the female is deadlier than the male. Or maybe it's just that, when she tosses a grenade or fires a gun, Jolie somehow makes herself look like she's having an orgasm.

Director Doug Liman clearly realizes the money shot is anything with Jolie and/or Pitt in it. He works through the disappointing script with efficiency, but little more.

"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" isn't a disaster like "Gigli." Both stars work hard to give their fans what they want (those lips, those eyes) and much of the early going is a delight.

But the movie as a whole seems lazy, little more than a rickety vehicle for a couple of best-selling brand names. In fact, Vince Vaughn, reprising his now too familiar role of misogynistic best pal, gets gratuitously brand-friendly, pointing out to Pitt, "She's Coke and you're Pepsi, my friend."

My friends, their movie leaves you thirsty for something more, something different, something something.