   GDNet at the Movies: It's the Smiths!
  In 1941, Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith was released, starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. It was the story of a happily married but bickering couple quite comfortable in their ways and their relationship with each other. Mrs. Smith one day asks her husband if, given the chance to do it all over again, he would marry her, to which he responds "No," intending to get a rise out of her. They shortly thereafter discover that, due to a technicality, their marriage is invalid, and Mrs. Smith throws Mr. Smith out of the house. He must now prove to her that he indeed loves her and woo her to marriage all over again.2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring, as virtually everyone within reach of the global marketing onslaught and incessant gossip that have followed this project, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, would seem at first glance to have little to nothing in common with Hitchcock's movie. Both spouses are assassins at rival agencies, each unbeknownst to the other, and the simultaneous discovery when they are both assigned the same hit raises numerous problems. Officially, the discovery of identity requires that the witness be eliminated, but things get far more interesting quite quickly.Upon reflection, the film is actually about marriage - about staying together, about the irreducible core, the spark that originally lit the flame, about growing together and growing apart and about love. It's an interesting move to contrast this highly traditional theme against the fantastic backdrop of international assassination and explosions, but it works quite well in my opinion. Interestingly, Mr. & Mrs. Smith 2005 harks back to classic Hollywood in another critical way: while Vince Vaughn plays a relatively prominent role and Adrien Brody has a part as well, the film is being marketed as a star vehicle, riding almost entirely on the shoulders of Pitt and Jolie. In that regard, the gossip surrounding the pair has helped, and the new photo spread in W Magazine in which Pitt and Jolie channel and "idealized American family," complete with five boys only fuels interest in the movie.Fortunately, it holds up. The movie is saggy in bits, and the ending seems rather abrupt (obvious deleted scene(s), as a shot shown in one of the previews which suggests an assault on their agencies by the couple is missing from the film), but it works - if you pay close attention. The biggest flaw of the film is that there's too much nuance and detail, and it's spread in different areas/directions. Having discovered her husband's true profession, for instance, Mrs. Smith instructs a subordinate to search for information about him, to which the sub replies, "Search for what, John Smith?" - a subtle dig at the inherent genericity of his, and by extension her, identity and a suggestion that it is all fabricated. In another scene, after a gunfight, a standoff and a reconciliation (sex!) in their home, the doorbell rings and it's the neighbors (who, it has already been established, feel inadequate in comparison to their "perfect" neighbors, the Smiths) with two police officers, who then get to see that the Smiths just had sex, and feel even more inadequate (the subtext is that their sex is never violent and explosive).All in all it's a decent summer action flick. It has higher aspirations but fails to hit some of the soprano notes, resorting to a falsetto. Still worth it.   
  is this a new thing Oluseyi? You gonna be reviewing all the movies you see?   ;  I just read the first two paragraphs and stoped, should i be worried about spoilers? I didn't see the movie yet.If there are, could you please change the title.   ;  You know, they make a website now for posting things like this.   ;Quote:Original post by xorI just read the first two paragraphs and stoped, should i be worried about spoilers? I didn't see the movie yet.If there are, could you please change the title.<spoiler> shut up about spoilers. I bitch slap the next person who tells me a movie is ruined for them cause they whine about it being spoiled. a good movie will be worth seeing time and time again, regardless if you know the plot or not. </spoiler>   ;Quote:Original post by ChokkiYou know, they make a website now for posting things like this.Perhaps some of us actualy care what the staff think?   ;Quote:Original post by DigitalChaosis this a new thing Oluseyi? You gonna be reviewing all the movies you see?I'm bored. It's summer. *shrug*Quote:Original post by xorI just read the first two paragraphs and stoped, should i be worried about spoilers? I didn't see the movie yet.If there are, could you please change the title.No real spoilers. Virtually nothing you don't already know from the previews.Quote:Original post by Chokki<bitching>If people can post about Pink Floyd and girl woes here... suck it, biatch!   ;  I too saw this movie over the weekend.  It is definitely a movie worth seeing.  Fortunately, I don't have a TV and I don't read the entertainment news, so the movie was not hyped too much for me. Good points: I was originally expecting a serious movie with funny highlights in it.  I was pleasantly surprised when it turned into a funny movie with serious highlights in it.  The chemistry between the two main actors works well (as I hear is being hyped) and Vince Vaughn is amusing in his role.  The car chase scene was a prime highlight for me. Bad points:  The movie felt much longer than it needed to be.  There were scenes that after seeing the whole movie, I felt could have been removed without hurting the plot line.  The ending fight scene was also so unbelievable it seemed nearly comical.  I was expecting one type of ending (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and it went the opposite way (Desperado). Overall the movie works well and the fight scenes are worth seeing on the big screen.  The car chase scene alone made the movie worthwhile for me.  A good movie worth seeing, especially on a light hearted date.   ;  bah, I knew I should have talked my friends into seeing this film on saturday...   ;  Remember kids, this is a car chase involving a minivan, with Angelina Jolie uttering the words "I'm a suburban housewife" before taking the wheel from her character's husband - at roughly 80 mph.Worth the price of admission.   