Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Rating:

Marriage With a Twist

Cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn

Director: Doug Linman

Here’s another Hitchcock-inspired action/thriller I’ve watched recently.  Even more than twenty years after his death people are copying (or, to be more polite, honoring) his memory and trying to capture his particular genius for psychological thrillers.

In Mr. and Mrs. Smith we have two people, a man and a woman, and at first it seems their marriage is in trouble. They are going to a counselor and, as evidenced by their home-life, suffer from communication problems. And the big secret, of course, is both of them are assassins. Not that I’m giving anything away: it is the hook that keeps the plot, such as it is, rolling.

I liked them and liked their interaction. It’s obvious that they are attracted to and still love each other. We simply have to wait, patiently, for them to figure it out, too. In the meantime we have any number of action scenes, either someone else trying to kill them, or them trying to kill each other. I loved their fight and “making up”, as well as an amusing encounter with the neighbors.

This is pretty much a film for admirers of Pitt and Jolie. I like the former and very much admire the latter, so I had fun. It looks like they had fun, too. 2 stars.