Title: Focus
MPAA Rating: R
Director: John Requa & Glenn Ficarra
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
What It Is: Jess (Robbie) is a driven young woman who wants to be a con artist, Nicky (Smith) is one of the best con men around, and when Jess tries to con Nicky, not understanding who he is…she gets a lesson she won’t soon forget. That lesson is that you can’t con a con man. Instead of being angry over the potential trickery Nicky tells her how to better her skills, until eventually taking her under his wing. As the tricks start to unfold so does a more sinister plot from Nicky who is now working with Garriga (Santoro) a rich man who has payrolled Nicky’s lastest scheme.
What We Think: Will Smith wants to be back and for the first 30 minutes of this it seemed he might be…yeah then there’s the rest fo the film. The second and third acts cannot match the first and the film just seems to keep jumping the shark whenever it tries to do something. It’s plot seems streamlined until it stops and turns into something far more convoluted. Margot Robbie continues to shine and Smith is good, but both are failed by the story, and decidedly choppy direction. This one is simply a case of too many cooks it seems.
Our Grade:C- As a film is isn’t the worst thing, but it also is not all that great. If this is a look into the Suicide Squad then Harley Quinn and Deadshot are going to have great chemistry. Maybe enough to make Mr. J jealous? Thats an interesting debated to have a little closer to that films release. For this one I’m going to say see it if your a huge Will Smith fan. If you are not wait until RedBox, Netflix or cable has it.
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