FanUnity B(uzz)log

For much of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have almost zero screen chemistry. Individually, they are quite charismatic, but when you add the two together on screen, there’s nothing extra created in the equation.

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is the unlikely story of a husband and wife, married six years, who are both secretly rival assassins unbeknownst to the other. We learn through a flashback at their marriage counselor’s office that the pair met in an exotic country, both looking to escape from local law as they tried to track the shooter of an official. At first the relationships was as sizzingly hot as one would expect from a couple like Pitt and Jolie. But over time the passion dulled, and now their homelife follows robotic precision, as Jolie’s wife channels Bree from “Desperate Housewives” and Pitt’s husband goes through the motions.

The movie is basically divided up into three parts. Part One: The boring life of the Smiths. Part Two: the discovery of each other’s true identity and subsequent efforts to kill each other. Part Three: teaming up to take out the evil baddies who set the against each other on purpose. Part One is slow and lame, with overwritten dialogue intended to cleverly convey the martial duldrums of the Smiths. Part Two is action-packed and mindless, with lots of explosions, gunfire and gamesmanship. Part Three is actually not bad, with Pitt and Jolie kicking in some of the chemistry that must have worked for them off camera, though the action sequences are equally mindless.

Probably the best part of the film is the Vince Vaughn schtick. While it doesn’t approach anything like the Vince Vaughn schtick in “Wedding Crashers”, the guy’s delivery of some marginal material elevates it. Why they cast “The O.C.”’s Adam Brody in the barely more than cameo part of the mutual mark is beyond me. Do you need a star in every important role? This couldn’t have been played by some unknown? I just kept thinking, there’s the kid from “The O.C.” when he was on-screen.

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is a mediocre action film, at best. The pairing of Pitt and Jolie may have been a casting coup on paper, but it doesn’t amount to much in the final product.

2/5 Stars.