Rainy Day Movie: Mr. & Mrs. Smith

My most recent installment into the Rainy Day Hall of Fame is Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Why, you ask? Well, from the time I heard about this movie’s premise, I knew right away I wouldn’t like it. It seemed too safe, too predictable for the likes of these two major stars. I have always been a fan of Brad Pitt. I have to admit, I haven’t seem too many of Angelina Jolie’s movies except for Girl, Interrupted which was awesome.

Her acting could not have been done better and she definitely deserved all the praise and the award for it. However, ever since then, any other movie she has been in has made me wonder why she would do it. You have to pay the bills somehow, I suppose. In any case, when I sat down to watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith, I was rooting for it. I was hoping that my opinions of it were absolutely wrong. I was hoping to watch a movie that had humor, great action and believable storyline.

I was hoping for a guilty pleasure but all I got was a dull movie with such a predictable storyline. Don’t get me wrong – I can enjoy a blockbuster movie knowing it was made solely for the purpose of raking in the revenue. But to completely disregard character build-up or perhaps a more believeable storyline is to make, well, Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

For those of you that have not yet viewed this movie, the storyline is as follows: John and Jane Smith (Pitt and Jolie, respectively) are professional assassins who happen to be married to each other. They have been married for a few years and have managed to keep their occupation a secret from the other. The movie gives enough information about the two characters in the sense of, where they work, who they normally associate with and how they keep their occupation a secret.

Now, what you have to understand is that there are way too many signs that lead to this “secret” and as smart as they are supposed to be, how could they not know? All right, all right. That’s supposed to be the premise of the entire movie. I get it. But how could either of them not know that each of them kept an entire arsenal of weaponry at their home?!

The beginning parts of the movie did not do much in the way of character development. I found myself wanting more and wishing they gave a better background story to their history as a couple. Personally, I felt it was a bit choppy and the audience is expected to believe everything that was shown on screen.

But back to the storyline. John and Jane are each given assignments that end up being the exact same target location in the desert, where they are to await the arrival of their target. Missing their target, they end up realizing that there are two people on this job and begin to attack one another. Jane retreats to her office where she reviews the tape of her intruding assassin and figures out his identity is in fact her husband’s. Thus, begins the meat of the movie where you wonder how are each of them going to figure it out and how many bombs can actually explode in one movie?

I just had too many problems with this movie that I could not enjoy it in its entirety. The movie quickly shifts gears from the introduction to the two assassins and into their suburban home. Their mundane lifestyle seemed to be a bit too mundane and began to reach the levels of absurdity.

During one of their conversations at the dinner table, I was practically yelling off the seat of my couch for them to laugh it off already and get to the part where one of them chuckles and says, “Oh, honey, by the way, did I tell you I’m a professional assassin?” And don’t even get me started on the sex scenes. I guess it’s true what they say, real-life couples have no chemistry on screen. Those scenes definitely seemed to be forced.

I was pleased to find Vince Vaughn in the movie. He’s one of the many actors of present day Hollywood that is always good for a laugh. He provided a much needed comic relief in the midst of cliched one-liners and extremely unrealistic situations. Am I being a bit too hard on this movie or am I just not buying into the whole Brangelina item? Although I do prefer Jennifer Aniston to Angelina Jolie, I’m not bragging about Aniston though – her acting in movies has proven to be just so-so. As she awaits her breakthrough performance, I would have to say that I would choose her movies over this one any day.

I would give this movie a 2.5 out of 5. Although I probably won’t ever see this movie again, my justification for this movie is that the writing and storyline were way too weak and when you don’t have material, there’s nothing that stars even as big as Jolie and Pitt can do about it.

Stay tuned to future Rainy Day reviews – because everyone can use a rainy day!