MOVIE OF THE WEEK #1 (2/27/15) FOCUS
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| "You know, they never let me get this 'fresh' when I was in Bel-Air ..." Nicky (Will Smith) gets up close and personal with Jess (Margot Robbie) in a scene from FOCUS. Credit: Frank Masi © 2015 Warner Bros. Pictures and Ratpac-Dune Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. |
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, BD Wong, Adrian Martinez, Brennan Brown, Griff Furst and Robert Taylor
WRITER(S): Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
DIRECTOR(S): Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
WEB SITE: www.focusmovie.com
60 SECOND PLOT SUMMARY (OR AS CLOSE TO THAT TIME AS ONE CAN MAKE IT): Nicky is a talented con man. Not just good at picking people's pockets; no, we're talking "sell you the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge" type of good. Then he meet Jess (Margot Robbie), a woman is seems at first to just be another pretty face eager to learn the art of the grift. But once Nicky takes her under his wing, she proves herself to be more than adept at being a quick learner (and as Nicky quickly learns in both public and private, quite good with her hands).
Fast forward a few years and Nicky is still up to his old tricks ... But once he sees a familiar face from his past, could he have finally met his match as he attempts to work his latest hustle on an international scale ...
Fast forward a few years and Nicky is still up to his old tricks ... But once he sees a familiar face from his past, could he have finally met his match as he attempts to work his latest hustle on an international scale ...
WHO WILL LIKE THIS FILM THE MOST? Will Smith fans, Margot Robbie fans, fans of heist/gambling movies, fans of movies with great individual scenes
WHO WON’T (OR SHOULDN'T) LIKE THIS MOVIE? People who focus on plot points and the logistical plausibility of them, people who hate movies that shift (no pun intended) focus in terms of their tone and mood, people who dislike a film when their is no true foil to push/prod the protagonist.
SO, IS IT GOOD, BAD OR ABSOLUTELY AWFUL? Focus starts off in grand fashion, establishing a stylistic look, an intriguing string of events and introducing its characters, who they are, where they come from and why they do the things they do ... Then somewhere in the last 30 minutes or so, it kind of shifts into a film that is completely different. It's not necessarily bad, but it's definitely not as good as it could be.
Thus, Focus is a movie that is entertaining, funny, sexy and interesting ... Until it loses the very thing on which its premise is based.
If you saw even 30 seconds of it, you know Smith's last major film After Earth was so awful, so very, very awful that it could snarkily be referred to as "after birth." Because it was an absolute mess. Focus finds Smith back in his element, doling out charm, one liners and a mix of suaveness and sophistication that makes you HAVE to watch him as he lights up a room and knows he's the most popular guy in it. That's not to suggest Robbie does not hold her own as nothing could be further from the truth. For the Australian actress shows her work in The Wolf of Wall Street was no fluke in making her character believably naive when necessary, alluring when called for and able to stand up to Smith as needed. Likewise, Adrian Martinez is hilarious as Nicky's ever-present henchman Farhad in a role that would be perfect for Luis Guzman ... If Martinez hadn't nailed it so well.
The thing that deserves a more critical eye, however, is the story of Focus itself. For once things go from a keen, well-crafted Ocean's Eleven-style heist story into a bit of a far-fetched, let's-have-our-actors-performances-be-stronger-than-the-actual-plot mode, Focus loses steam. Think of it this way: If someone told you they had Adolph Hitler's autograph, that would seem plausible depending on the details they told you in the story. IF, however, they told you they had the uniform Hitler died in, a certified letter from Hitler saying he was going to wear this outfit on the day of his death AND he swore it should only be passed down to him/her exactly 60 years after his death, you'd forget all about the awful things he did – at least temporarily – and get distracted by the insanity of the story.
Focus does that exact same thing with all of the crimes it tries to convince you Nicky can pull off, but Smith and Robbie are so entertaining you're willing to let it slide. It's like movie popcorn; it's not bad for the time when you want something tasty to enjoy ... But it's never going to be a completely satisfying meal.
Those analogies might be a bit less-than-stellar ways to analyze a movie, but in the case of Focus, it's an accurate way to describe why you will enjoy eating popcorn while watching it ... As long as it's not the only thing you eat that day.
Thus, Focus is a movie that is entertaining, funny, sexy and interesting ... Until it loses the very thing on which its premise is based.
If you saw even 30 seconds of it, you know Smith's last major film After Earth was so awful, so very, very awful that it could snarkily be referred to as "after birth." Because it was an absolute mess. Focus finds Smith back in his element, doling out charm, one liners and a mix of suaveness and sophistication that makes you HAVE to watch him as he lights up a room and knows he's the most popular guy in it. That's not to suggest Robbie does not hold her own as nothing could be further from the truth. For the Australian actress shows her work in The Wolf of Wall Street was no fluke in making her character believably naive when necessary, alluring when called for and able to stand up to Smith as needed. Likewise, Adrian Martinez is hilarious as Nicky's ever-present henchman Farhad in a role that would be perfect for Luis Guzman ... If Martinez hadn't nailed it so well.
The thing that deserves a more critical eye, however, is the story of Focus itself. For once things go from a keen, well-crafted Ocean's Eleven-style heist story into a bit of a far-fetched, let's-have-our-actors-performances-be-stronger-than-the-actual-plot mode, Focus loses steam. Think of it this way: If someone told you they had Adolph Hitler's autograph, that would seem plausible depending on the details they told you in the story. IF, however, they told you they had the uniform Hitler died in, a certified letter from Hitler saying he was going to wear this outfit on the day of his death AND he swore it should only be passed down to him/her exactly 60 years after his death, you'd forget all about the awful things he did – at least temporarily – and get distracted by the insanity of the story.
Focus does that exact same thing with all of the crimes it tries to convince you Nicky can pull off, but Smith and Robbie are so entertaining you're willing to let it slide. It's like movie popcorn; it's not bad for the time when you want something tasty to enjoy ... But it's never going to be a completely satisfying meal.
Those analogies might be a bit less-than-stellar ways to analyze a movie, but in the case of Focus, it's an accurate way to describe why you will enjoy eating popcorn while watching it ... As long as it's not the only thing you eat that day.
OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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