Friday night is warm across London so we met some friends, had tapas and headed to the flicks to see Mr and Mrs Smith. Unusually for me, I knew what it was about before I actually sank into my lovely comfortable Clapham Picture House seat and – therefore – I wasn’t surprised in either a good or bad way with this film.

The premise: Mr and Mrs Smith are killers for hire but they don’t know that about each other. You need to gloss over the huge holes in that for they don’t matter. The on-going lies each one has to tell to cover their other life as a hit man is ruining their marriage. So, they seek counselling and somewhere along the line – again, don’t worry about the detail – they end up trying to kill each other.

The lead up to the assignation attempt(s) is essentially background filler and, thankfully, is over pretty quickly. When the penny drops – and Mr and Mrs Smith head to kill the other – is the point where the movie gets better. As you would imagine for such a blockbuster the killing spree is well covered with special effects making the gun battles comic-book in style and certainly all the more enjoyable for it.

This film, however, is made by the unexpected witty dialogue that writer Simon Kinberg has peppered the film with. For plot details and suspense then two deadly assasigns trying to kill each other is – perhaps – better left to Robert Ludlum. A husband and wife couple doing the same and you’ll laugh along to the clever use of the dialogue which moves this film. When it really gets going, it’s great.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt keep it moving well. They are a convincing couple and have the all the moves a film of this nature needs. Most importantly, they carry the dialogue convincingly as a married couple.

Don’t expect realism nor a movie that takes itself seriously. Expect a surprisingly entertaining cinema experience. The fact that some in the audience applauded at the end should suggest you give this film a chance.

On this day…

2005: links for 2005-06-17
2004: Football Crazy