Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Director: Doug Liman
Main Cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn
Writer(s): Simon Kinberg
Director of Photography: Bojan Bazelli
Producer: Lucas Foster, Akiva Goldsman...
Editor(s): Michael Tronick
Original Score By: John Powell
Release Date: 2005 June 10

This film surprised me. I expected, not unlike most people I spoke with, that it would be a non-stop tour-de-force of action, bullets, and car chases. What I got instead was an interesting and insightful commentary on marriages and their successes and failures wrapped in an action film bow. This, suffice it say, was hardly what I anticipated from Liman, the director of the recent espionage thriller The Bourne Identity. But despite my surprise, I was not disappointed by the final outcome.

The most intriguing portions of the movie were the group and individual counseling sessions that Pitt and Jolie go through. The actors sat facing the camera answering questions like "On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your marriage?" delivered from an off-screen voice, apparently their counselor. The discussion between the couple as they attempt to answer the inquiries is unforgettable. They maintain an amiable tone, but obviously do not agree. These statically shot scenes are all about the actors. They are extremely uncomfortable as can be witnessed by their awkard glances, shifty eyes, stumbling dialogue, and fidgety body language. These kind of reserved, but congenial interactions fill the air thick with uncomfortability every time the couple are on screen together in the first act.

The film did not really, in my view, provide an opinion as to whether marriage was good or bad simply that certain things needed to be in place for it to thrive. The driving end of its message is that trust and honesty are key to a successful marriage. This is fulfilled when Pitt and Jolie finally uncover each other's secret and they are able to have a conversation about it. Of course this discussion follows, what would for normal couples be a shouting match, but for them is a physically exhausting battle filled with gunfight and brutal hand-to-hand combat. The relationship is further solidified when they find a common ground of survival on which to rebuild what had been lost. The couple battles through a period of wanting to call off the marriage when all the lies, half-truths, and distrust is revealed. Actually it is more like wanting to kill each other, but that is really neither here nor there. Despite the actions that each of them takes it is evident that they both care for each other and would like to find a way to work out their differences and move on.

The marriage after the revelation of their mutual occupations becomes a psuedo-competition. Pitt's "You have got to be kidding me" comment follows Jolie's question of "Why do I have to have the 'girl' gun?". The dialogue is filled with humorous give and take that is not uncommon in any relationship, but here is tainted with killer-for-hire innuendo. The comparison and competition go so far as to account for how many kills each has. Much to Pitt's astonishment he seems overwhelmed by the idea that his wife has 312 kills to his 50 or 60. I wondered to myself if this was all that unlike a dual-income family comparing salaries and equating monetary achievement and gender roles assignments with their own self worth.

Even though much of the movie is either direct or indirect metaphor for the marriage institution, I would be remiss to not mention the actions scenes. Although they were fairly few in number, they did not dissatisfy. There were two grandiose and gratuitous action scenes that stuck out in my mind. The first begins after Pitt and Jolie have realized each others secret and are eating fruit and coffee on the floor of their kitchen that they destroyed in a gun battle the night before as they worked out their differences. Their respective agencies send assassins to kill them. The battle that ensues is spectacular with no shortage of bullets, shaterring glass, and explosions as the two battle the hitmen in rubber galoshes and their shirts and undies. The battle leads Jolie to comment later in one of the counseling sessions that they had "remodeled" their house.

The second battle is a well-choreographed shootout in a home decor superstore. This finale plays out more like a beautiful dance and is reminiscent of an earlier scene where Pitt and Jolie tango at a fancy restaurant. This one, however, has way more bullets. The couple pairs up as an unstoppable team reading each others moves and fending off bad guys left and right. While the incident is over the top and spectacularly unbelievable it keys us into the idea of how successful a marriage can be when both partners are tuned into the needs of the other and work together toward a common goal, in this case survival.

For Mr. and Mrs. Smith sex was an area of extreme turmoil, as can be seen by the reactions to one of the questions during one of the counseling sessions. During the course of the film they are able to rekindle the passion that they experienced when they first met. This act assists in rebuilding their rocky relationship. Some reviewers have complained of the semi-graphic sensuality of the film. This boils down at its heart to caring for the other individual's needs and it does certainly have a place in every married couples relationship. I did not find it gratuitous nor really inappropriate. It merely served the purpose of being the catalyst to bring the couples relationship back together. Also, not that it is necessarily a good argument, but with sex-symbol superstars like Pitt and Jolie it could have been much worse. (Rumor has it that some parts of this portion of the film were cut to achieve the MPAA's PG-13 rating. Thankfully.)

Liman uses few camera tricks or new techniques, but the slow motion action scenese never cease to be enjoyable. He also pays homage to Hong Kong style action movies with the shoot-outs filled with hundreds of bullets. Actually the grand fight finale could have been straight out of John Woo movie with the simple addition of some doves.

Just because it is another favorite movie of mine I'll mention this bit of trivia. Keep a look out for the Fight Club t-shirt worn by the hostage at the end of the movie. A little tongue-in-cheek recognition of Pitt's other film successes.

Bottom Line: A surprising, insightful, and humorous commentary of a marriage on the rocks. Pitt and Jolie have incredible on screen chemistry and drive the film's relational undertones. Liman works hard at keeping the film from fraying into a mindless action movie and succeeds on most counts. Overall, a pleasant entertaining movie that could even warrant repeat viewing.

An astonished, but honest, 7 out of 10.

~RG