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Smiths & weapons: The couple that slays together...

By DAVE LARSEN
Dayton Daily News

When domestic bliss goes bad, couples can sometimes end up at one another's throats.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith takes such marital discord to literal, life-and-death extremes.

Twentieth Century Fox 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' B- 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. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

The comedic thriller from The Bourne Identity director Doug Liman stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a husband and wife who both work as assassins, without the other's knowledge. When their respective covers are blown, revealing the deception and lies at the heart of their relationship, blades and bullets fly — as opposed to the fine china.

Of course, the film is not without some real-life spousal drama of its own, given the tabloid stories speculating about Pitt and Jolie's off-screen relationship amid Pitt's divorce from actress Jennifer Aniston.

Those looking for signs of a spark between the stars may find it in their chemistry as the mortally combative couple. Pitt and Jolie are tremendously attractive, and they play well off one another both dramatically and physically.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith works best as a sly comedy about the hazards of harboring secrets in a relationship. The screenplay by Simon Kinberg, originally written as his master's-degree thesis, is loaded with clever lines and sharp, funny banter.

But like some marriages, the film loses some steam as time wears on. As the story descends into total mayhem, it becomes a typical big summer action flick, overwhelmed by shoot-outs, car chases and explosions.

John (Pitt) and Jane (Jolie) Smith save one another's skins amid a revolution in Bogata, Columbia, and embark on a whirlwind courtship that quickly leads to matrimony. Five or six years later, depending on who you ask, their intense passion has given way to boring routine.

However, both spouses lead separate, secret lives, which Liman hilariously illustrates in one eventful evening when each steps out on the other and returns home with another notch in their belt, so to speak.

Working for rival, unnamed agencies, John and Jane inadvertently cross paths when they are both assigned to take out the same target. Their identities thus revealed, each is then given 48 hours to eliminate the other.

The violent, darkly comic conflict that ensues recalls such films as Prizzi's Honor and The War of the Roses. It's fun if you buy the premise, but numbing if not. Mr. and Mrs. Smith never makes it clear who the characters work for, or whom they kill or why. Apparently, that's beside the point.

Marriage can be murder, but there's nothing like wanton death and destruction to spice things up at home.