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Focus


Starring: Will Smith and Margot Robbie
Directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Screenplay by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

    Like stories about con-men?  Well, here you go.
    Nicky (Will Smith) is a con-artist.  He's good at getting people to trust him when he is not a man who should necessarily be trusted.  He can pickpocket a person without them even knowing they've been stolen from.  He can convince anyone of just about anything.  While preparing for a job in New Orleans during the Superbowl, he meets a woman named Jess (Margot Robbie).  Since there's lots of money to be made, she wants in.  After the job's been done and she knows the trade, they split for a long time.
    A few years later, they reconnect unexpectedly as Nicky is in the midst of his latest plan.  He's working for a race car team, who has developed a formula to essentially guarantee themselves a win.  They hire him to sell a fake formula to another team to make even more money.  When he sees Jess at a party with the team's owner, the plan changes.  She has turned into a femme fatale and possesses the power to distract Nicky from his job.  Will Nicky stay focused?
    The story is not laid out as well as it could be.  It can be hard to follow at some points, and seems variable in its pace.  There is a great deal of suspense in some scenes as well, especially in one scene in particular.  During the Superbowl game (Nicky manages to score tickets for Jess and he), they begin jokingly betting on random things that happen during the game.  A wealthy businessman takes note and wants to join in, and the game quickly becomes serious.  Soon, they are not just betting one dollar here and one dollar there, but as much as two million dollars.  This scene goes on for what seems like fifteen minutes, when it could have been a lot shorter.  I like that it is suspenseful, but that kind of suspense isn't necessary at that point in the movie, especially since it happens only about half an hour in.
     Will Smith and Margot Robbie make for an interesting couple.  I don't see a whole lot of chemistry between them, and for much of the time, it's not clear whether Nicky genuinely likes Jess or if he is just using her for the job at hand, plus benefits.  Either way, they do not the best of screen couples.
     Will Smith brings his usual self to the film, a cool and collected guy that everyone just wants to hang out with.  He brings an exciting style to the movie, as he does with many other of his films (Men in Black in particular).  Margot Robbie brings a style to the film that shows us that all she has to do is bat her eyelashes and smile, and she can get pretty much anything she wants.
     Overall, this isn't a terribly impressive film.  There isn't much substance and there is nothing that makes this a notable film.  My verdict: skip it.
     I give Focus a C.

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