What Is It?

For those of you with too much movie knowledge… it is not a remake of the Hitchcock film from the 1940’s. (Or the TV show from the 1990’s.)

This film, destined to get lassoed into more than it’s fair share of comparisons to “War Of The Roses” is about a married couple, living separate lives and thus not feeling fulfilled in the mirage. As we all know the twist is… There secret lives are as high level secret agent hit men (women.) This film then attempts use the standard, double life, not telling me anything, cheating on me, mirage problems, but the are blown up (usually with c4) to monumental movie size is a way that makes James Bond look a little dull.

How Was It?

It was not a disappointment. As a silly fun film taking things to the most outrageous extremes, while still not getting campy or slap stick (usually) this film works as the marriage of two genres (romantic comedy / double barreled shoot‘em up spy film) and producing what may be one of the best “date movies” since “Charade.” (Hay, it only took 42 years with one bad remake in between.)

Is It Good For Kids?

The Violence is big and in your face, though people hit usually just say ugg and fall out of the frame. I would think that much younger kids would get disturbed by the idea of a married couple trying to kill each other with such deadly force. It would be to easy to cast Mom and Dad as the Smith the next time there is a disagreement.

The other problem is 2 scenes where Angelina Jolie much more on the screen than we need. Once she is seducing a man to then assassinate him, the second time she is just changing her shirt while having a conversation about the day with her husband (Brad Pitt).

There is also one line about “how many” conquests they have both had on the job. I realize that the fact they were sleeping around was part of there problem, and that everything is exaggerated for effect, but for some reason this 15 second conversation really disturbed me.

You know, I often here people saying “That would be such a good movie if they just didn’t…..” Most the time the entire theme of the film backs up the quick flash of what ever on the screen, making the argument moot. Still even if the statement is pretty much true, the directors, producers, actors, etc all worked hard and made a conscious choice to put that in the film to create the affect they wanted.

After this film I find my self needing that rebuttal…

You can check www.ScreenIt.com for a complete break down of elements shown on the screen.

How about Spiritual Issues?

The neighbors seem to be Christian, or at least part of the subculture. We don’t really get to know any of them, but when the Smiths have to steal there minivan, There is a cross hanging from the rearview, later when they put on what ever clothing they can find in the minivan, they find them selves in matching jogging suits with a cheesy embroidered head shot of The Lord with the inscription “Jesus Rocks”. It seems to just be mocking how out of place the killers are in there fake suburban life, but there it is, what ever it means.

Beyond that, the film is most interested in action and marriage. On the subject of marriage, they seem to get it right. We find that there relationship starts as a sweeping passion. A friend emplanes to John. Smith the flaw in starting a marriage like that because it has to be built on a “foundation of friendship” because all the other stuff will not last. We also see in there marriage, that they just exist at home and then go to work where they are actually invested. This and the fact that they never talk about there “real life” separates them. They even bring the analogy further when you find John goes to the shed to putter and Jane to the kitchen to cook, both the common archetypes for husband and wife avoiding a relationship. Of course in this film both have a huge arsenal hidden in there gender stereotypical locations.

This film also uses visits to a marriage councilor to let you know where they are in there relationship. By the end [Yes it’s a HUGE SPOILER] you have them saying “at times I just wanted to kill her, I had the gun to her head but just couldn’t put the trigger.” This describes a revelation in a normal marriage, of course what the counselor does not know is he literally means a gun to her head in a reference to an almost touching moment. (I think the emotional story is very simple and almost trite, but in the midst of all the gun fire, it catches you off guard.)

What Is Your Recommendation?

This is a hard one. For all the correct information and just silly fun, I would recommend it. It could almost be the third part of a Engagement Counseling Film-Fest with “13 going on 30" and “The Runaway Bride”. Personally though, I have a really hard time recommencing films that use women as objects as this one does in two scenes.

[Spoiler] (I read that they cut out a third scene that showed how well the Smiths “Make Up” so they could get PG-13.)

Maybe we should just stick with the much less action packed (sadly less referring to things exploding, happily referring to body parts) “Charade.” Hay, Cary Grant and Audrie Hepburn...

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