Will Smith reminds us why we liked him in the first place. (We never forgot why we like Margot Robbie.)
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In Focus,
Will Smith plays Nicky, a confident, smooth-talking con man who runs an
organization of professional pickpockets and scammers. Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street)
plays Jess, a woman who leverages her looks to make cash through petty
crimes and wants in on Nicky's next big scheme. There's an instant
attraction between the two (who meet at a bar where she's relieving a
drunk fool of his wallet), but because of the nature of the biz they're
in, you can never be sure if they're playing each other, if they're
being real with each other, or if there's a really, really long con afoot.
After
Jess first pleads with Nicky to take her under his wing, he instead
takes her out into the snow and gives her a lesson in focus (ahem), set
to a jazzy, new-age instrumental that would've been more appropriate if
they were in a W hotel lobby. That mood music was as out of place as a
darker scene was near the end of the film. But in the middle of those
two moments was a whole lot of fun and a bunch of pretty things to look
at.
This
is one of those movies where you'll catch yourself rooting for the
"bad" guy—fast-paced pickpocketing sequences had me smiling ear to ear,
amazed at how Nicky's team could lift countless wallets and watches
while weaving through clueless crowds in New Orleans. Then about two
seconds later I was like, "Wait, that's awful." And ever since
I've been constantly touching my coat pockets and shifting my purse
around when I'm walking outside because I'm convinced I'll be ripped off
at any minute. So thanks for that, Will. Or I guess really I should be
thank-scolding writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who
clearly know a little something about charming bad boys (see Crazy, Stupid, Love).
Anyway,
Jess proves herself by being able to up the stakes and improvise on the
spot during the pickpocketing spree. The team pulls in $1.2 million for
their efforts, and that's when we learn Nicky might not be the best
person to trust with all of that cash.
Eventually,
Nicky gets an opportunity to make so many millions that he'll be set
for life. The only problem is that Jess may or may not be on the other
side of the scam, which involves Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro), a hotshot
race car driver, and his right-hand crony Owens (Gerald McRaney, doing
his best "Mike from Breaking Bad" impression).
There
was so much glamour, so many expensive suits, so many expensive shades,
so many cool cons and so much fun trash talk between Nicky, Jess and
their crew throughout most of the film that it felt good to have the old
Will Smith back. (Was the "take a knee" line Nicky uttered a jokey
reference to the terrible After Earth, by the way? I don't even
care, I'm telling myself it was.) But then Ficarra and Requa had to go
and screw it up with a lame attempt at one last twist that reached too
far and fell totally flat.
I'm still glad that Focus helped remind me why I liked Smith in the first place—I've been a fan since the Fresh Prince
days and even saw him in concert. The film's a weird mix of heist flick
and romantic dramedy, but it mostly works thanks to Smith and Robbie's
looks (let's be honest) and performances. Just be forewarned that you're
going to be conned out of a decent ending.
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