Mr. and Mrs. Smith

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment / 2005 / 120 Minutes / PG-13
Street Date: November 29, 2005

Mr.& Mrs. Smith is glamorous, kicky, high-concept entertainment that remains largely on course thanks to crackling good chemistry between stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Pitt and Jolie are big personalities and big celebrities, but at their best, they have loose, frolicky instincts and they show them off here. Pitt especially is good at the little ticks that make a character more fun for us to watch (remember Ocean’s 11 and how in every scene, he’s eating something?) and presumably more interesting for him to play. In Smith (please don’t make me type Mr. & Mrs. Smith every time - I’ll go nuts), he plays John Smith, a deadly assassin working for a spy agency run by Eddie (Vince Vaughn). John keeps his deadly vocation a secret from his wife Jane (Jolie) who thinks her husband is a contractor. However, Jane, unbeknownst to John, is not just a dutiful wife who tends house and frets over the color of the new drapes. She’s also a paid assassin working for a rival agency. As far as I could tell, Jane’s competing outfit is comprised entirely of female spies, as if the FemBots from Austin Powers were reprogrammed to fight for the good guys.

We meet John and Jane Smith in counseling, talking to an off-screen marriage therapist. John kinda loves his wife, but “sometime I just wanna . . .” and he gestures as if putting his hands around her neck. Neither can quite remember the last time they had sex, nor how long they’ve been married. Their secret lives are so exciting that the mundane routine of a marriage is deadening by comparison. When John and Jane are unknowingly assigned to take out the same target, they begin to suspect the other is a spy. When their suspicions are confirmed, they’re assigned to kill each other, which leads to lots of wink-wink double entendres. When John and Jane throw down their weapons and just pummel the crap out of each other, Liman’s use of the song “Express Yourself” is a groaner, but damn if it doesn’t make you smile. The film is in love with this central idea, that a husband and wife really trying to murder each other ain’t far removed from how most married couples act anyway. Some days, you look at the person across the bed and think, “I love that person,” other days you think “I hate that person,” and still others you think, “I don’t know that person.” Smith takes this ball and runs it into the end zone, then keeps running through the locker room and out into the parking lot. It gets a lot of mileage out of the concept, even if it’s gasping for air by the end.

The movie is good, but isn’t perfect. Writer-du-jour Simon Kinberg (Fantastic Four and XXX: State of the Union, two scripts that won’t be taught in screenwriting class) needs to attend Screenwriter Finishing School. He has never shown more than a rudimentary sense of humor or plotting. Here, he leaves us with the feeling that a better screenplay would have better fulfilled the premise’s potential and we wouldn’t have to rely so much on Pitt and Jolie to power it home. No surprise then, that Kinberg wrote Smith as a master’s thesis project at Columbia (if it’s that easy, maybe the student who made a periscope out of milk cartons can captain a nuclear sub).

The Vince Vaughn character bugged me; there is something opaque about that guy. He’s always the hip little quipster operating above the movie, doing his Vince Vaughn thing. And while a paid assassin living with his mother sounds great for a full-blown spy spoof, it’s too silly for this film. Also, at two hours, Kinberg can’t quite find enough for the characters to do; their journey is logically over about ten minutes before the film decides to end. I could go on to mention the lameness of the villain (Adam Brody), but why take such an easy shot? What Kinberg’s script lacks, Liman’s direction makes up for. John Woo, who was briefly attached to the movie, would be proud of the flying bullets and debris (although he may be disappointed at the lack of doves and Christ figures). Liman makes it work because he keeps us at the appropriate distance: silly enough to not take seriously, but serious enough to keep it out of cartoon territory. It’s a dance and he performs it well. The movie has an almost old-fashioned feel, as if Tracy and Hepburn had strapped on rifles and started firing. Except Tracy and Heburn are replaced by the very modern Pitt and Jolie. While Pitt is not a great actor, he’s a fun actor and he’s more interesting to watch than people give him credit for. As for Jolie, enough with the English accent, enough with Lara Croft. Thank the stars, here she stuffs her affectations in the drawer in favor of sophisticated glamour and feminist-embracing toughness. Combine the two and she’s as appealing and beautiful as she’s ever been on screen.

Although plausibility is not the film’s strong suit, the movie is too busy to let us stop and wonder about it. We’re here for two hours of light humor and heavy firepower featuring two glistening superstars. For Pitt, Jolie and Liman, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is Mission: Possible, a film that, when hitting on all cylinders, is irresistible fun.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

For review purposes, Fox did not send the final release product. Instead, they sent a DVD with the words “Property of 20th Century Fox Publicity Dept.” plastered on the bottom of the frame for the entire length of the movie. Given that caveat, and my inability to guarantee that the commercial release will look the same, what does the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer look like? Pretty damn nice is the answer. This is a rich, deep-looking picture with above average detail and sharpness. Colors show a nice depth and liveliness and the palette is a combination of natural and stylized hues. Much of the film takes place in dimly lit interiors and at night. Luckily, black levels are strong and shadow detail is excellent. Contrast is also above average and flesh tones stay realistic. The print is spotless. I did catch some minor edge halos, but it hardly affected my overall impression. In all, a fresh and enjoyable effort from Fox.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

Audio fans rejoice. Fox has generously included a DTS 5.1 track along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Both share many attributes, mainly a heavy and dynamic feel that gives heft and fullness to the experience. There is activity everywhere, especially and not surprisingly during the action scenes. I was literally startled when a rocket flew from the surrounds, past my left ear, to the left side speaker. Suffice it to say, all channels are engaged at one time or another and often at the same time. The directional effects were smooth and the panning from side to side was also handled with aplomb. Highs were tight, with no shrillness. As for the lows, prepare your downstairs neighbors, because the subwoofer action is tight and epic. The songs in the soundtrack were punchy, while the score itself seemed confined, but generally sounded nice. Dialogue is clear and distinct no matter what mayhem is happening around the characters. The difference between the Dolby and the DTS is almost negligible; Dolby wears its separation on its sleeve more than the DTS, which is a tad smoother. Still, those with just a Dolby setup will be more than satisfied.

There are also a French and Spanish Dolby Surround 2.0 mixes, and English and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The extras on offer aren’t bad, but I was expecting more. Had this been a Ridley Scott film, we would have gotten the kind of supplements I was hoping for. It doesn’t make the film a less worthy rental, but it does make it a less worthy purchase.

There are three audio commentaries, which add up to about two commentaries worth of solid information. The first is by director Doug Liman and screenwriter Simon Kinberg. Liman says they shot the suburban New York scenes in Pasadena, CA. He also says that Pitt was very willing to be clumsy and goofy, which served to make a macho character more real. It was tough for everyone, especially the marketing people, to decide what genre of film this was and only when it was labeled a romantic comedy, as opposed to an action movie or a thriller, did all pieces of the studio machine begin moving in the same direction. To his credit, Kinberg is generous in pointing out and praising the unscripted moments that the actors brought to a scene. Since there’s no Pitt/Jolie commentary, this commentary is the one to check out.

The second commentary is by producers Lucas Foster and Akiva Goldsman. These guys get into production and financing issues, which can make the effort too focused on minutiae, but there’s good stuff to glean. It’s also fun to hear about budget compromises, since the sky sure seemed like the limit. They even admit stealing a helicopter shot from Clear and Present Danger and manipulating it so you’d never know.

The third and least successful commentary is by editor Michael Tronick, production designer Jeff Mann, and visual effects supervisor Kevin Elam. They all focus on their specific areas of expertise and much of what they say overlaps with the other commentaries. Plus, there’s too much dead air. However, the commentary does make you appreciate the contributions of the trio, who perform jobs that usually go unappreciated.

The eight-minute Making a Scene featurette originally aired on the Fox Movie Channel. It takes us into the filming of the stunt where Jane hits John with her car. Doug Liman, producer Akiva Goldsman, writer Simon Kinberg, and Angelina Jolie discuss the stunt from all stages of production. There’s some on-set footage that represents the only behind-the-scene material on the entire DVD. This is fine stuff, but it only highlights how little effort was put into making this big theatrical release a big DVD release.

Next are a measly three deleted scenes, which add up to about nine minutes. The first is a rant by the Eddie character played by Vince Vaughn. Vaughn is good at these rants, but I felt he was about to break into the Swingers routine of rooting for the PG-13 guy. Cute, but too “look at me doing my comedic ranting thing.” The second scene has Jane’s female spies combing the Smith home. I’m glad they took this out, because it points to the unbelievability of a spy agency populated solely by incredibly smokin’ hot girls. But at least now I know what Victoria’s Secret is. The final scene is an extension of the climatic shootout, which was long enough as is.

Lastly, there is a Smith teaser and trailer, a soundtrack spot and a promo for Family Guy: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes it’s nice to put aside all pretense of art and just watch two of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars pummel the crap out of each other. In Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have great chemistry and director Doug Liman’s direction is both old-fashioned and new fangled. The transfer and audio are well above average, while the extras are good, if not outstanding. As a Saturday night rental, it’s a guaranteed winner.