I'm a big fan of conman films (for the best ones check out The Sting and Matchstick Men) and I'm a big fan of Will Smith... so, if you tell me that the two are coming together for a mid-winter movie, my initial instinct is to say that I'm in. Especially since Will Smith has been on hiatus from the box office, it has to be a hell of a script in order to pull him back into the limelight. However, with it's February release date I have to wonder... what's the catch? The catch is that the movie's title is essentially what the script is lacking. Writers and Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa have a certain style to their movies. They write crass comedies that are equal parts vulgarity and heart. Their previous works, Bad Santa and I Love You Phillip Morris, however, are far better than their latest outing. That isn't to say that Focus is a bad movie... it just doesn't live up to the expectations nearly everyone will have going into the film.
Without giving anything away, Will Smith plays Nicky, a successful small-time con man. He meets Jess (Margot Robbie) in a hotel restaurant and the two hit it off. When Jess tries to pull an obvious con against Nicky and he calls her out on it, she decides she wants to join forces and have Nicky teach her the ways of the grifter. They plan a massive series of small time capers against drunk and staggering Mardi Gras travelers and wind up pocketing (along with the rest of the team) over a million bucks. The two fall for each other, but Nicky lives by the code that there's no room for love in the conman game. So, he leaves her with her share of the money and moves on with his life. Flash forward three years: Nicky is hired by Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro) to pull a big con against his business rival. Nicky agrees and the plan moves along swimmingly until Jess shows up out of the blue as Garriga's current squeeze. Nicky realizes he still loves her and mixing work and love turns out to be quite the challenge.
That's essentially it. It's actually mostly fun to watch and try and figure out who is playing who and who is the victim and who has the upper hand and how are things going to get seriously screwed up and how they're going to get out of the next pickle... However, the scenes with Nicky and Jess are, well... boring. It's unfortunate because Will Smith and Margot Robbie have amazing chemistry together, but it's not fun watching the two of them together. I mean this in the love aspect of the film. In the grifting sections they're a joy to watch. As Nicky shows her the ropes and teaches her the game, you'll find yourself glued to the screen. But, later in the film, when Nicky is trying to get Jess to run away with him, when he tries to woo her, it's mostly mundane and unfortunately uninteresting.
Another problem the movie has is the tone. While the dialogue plays mostly like a fun comedy, it's shot with dark, serious colors and shades. There's a serious overtone to the movie, but the characters are having a great time. The way the film is shot and presented seems like it may have played out differently on paper. Are we looking for a comedy with dramatic elements or a drama with comedic elements? A good conman movie is able to incorporate both organically much like the aforementioned Matchstick Men and The Sting. This film is difficult to pinpoint just what exactly the directors were going for. When they're acting out their plan and playing everyone around them, the film is a blast. It's when it slows down in order to get our two leads together is when the film drags.
I would say that Focus mostly succeeds as a film, but the failures are very evident and quite hard to ignore. While this isn't exactly the movie to bring Will Smith back into the minds of the average moviegoer it's a better step in the right direction than After Earth was.
B-
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