Star chemistry compensates for wild plotting in Will Smith's 'Focus'
It doesn't take long to catch on to the modus operandi of the romantic comedy/drama "Focus" - no matter what outrageous things happen, they will invariably be revealed as elaborate con jobs designed to hoodwink suckers, just like us.
Writers/directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa seem to be keenly aware of this.
So, to keep audiences off-balance, they constantly up the credibility ante until the con jobs become so wildly preposterous, not even Will Smith's practiced charm can sell them as plausible.
You might have seen Ficarra's and Requa's 2009 directorial debut - and obvious inspiration for this movie - "I Love You Phillip Morris," an awkward comic drama based on con man Steven Russell (played by Jim Carrey).
"Focus" stars "The Wolf of Wall Street" hottie Margot Robbie as Jess, a woman so desperate to escape the drunk wolf hitting on her in a hotel bar that she asks a stranger to pretend to be her boyfriend for a while.
He turns out to be Nicky (Smith), who really likes Jess, enough to go up to her room for some Nicky necking until boom! her enraged hubby busts in, waving a gun and threatening to kill someone.
Nicky rolls his eyes. He saw Jess boost the drunk's wallet and knows she's a con. Not a very good one. Her "husband" can't even act.
Jess recognizes Nicky to be a master of distraction who's on top of the con artist food chain. She begs him to take her on as a well-paid intern.
He does, reluctantly, and thus she enters a fascinating community of hardworking cheats and liars working in synchronized efficiency to fleece the public of its valuables in New Oreans.
(Filmmakers brought in Apollo Robbins, known as "The Gentleman Thief," to choreograph the impressive sleight-of-hand maneuvers.)
Ficarra and Requa earn their stripes in a lengthy sequence in which crooks clean a crowd of tourists out of $1.3 million in goods.
"Die with the lie" becomes the philosophy Jess borrows from Nicky, called "Mellow" by his scalawag, deserting daddy. Foreshadowing alert!
Together with Farhad, a roly poly, frizzy-headed associate played with comic relief by Adrian Martinez, Jess and Nicky concoct their own career cons with plot twists arriving right on schedule.
The "big con" as depicted in movies? Doesn't exist, Nicky tells Jess. But that remains to be seen, doesn't it?
D.B. Wong co-stars as a wealthy racetrack junkie who tempts Nicky into what appear to be old bad habits, creating a nerve-wracking scene in which Nicky bets with money he doesn't have.
Actor Rodrigo Santoro brings a Eurotrash quality to Spanish race car team owner Rafael Garríga, targeted by Nicky for a fuel formula scam, despite that Jess has apparently become his lover, and that his body guard is one tough, ruthless thug played by Gerald McRaney.
Robbie and Smith share an infectious chemistry in "Focus," an odd romance set against the backdrop of the Artful Dodger's modern training grounds. Smith and Robbie employ light comic touches that almost make them endearing, until escalating plot silliness and lame "game" metaphors take over the screenplay.
"I don't want to play this game!" Nicky says. "There's no room for heart in the game!"
"I'm out of the game!" Jess says. You get the idea.
The most daring, inspired scene in "Focus" occurs when Garriga's enforcer straps on a neck brace and helmet before deliberately crashing his automobile into Nicky's sports car.
It's an inventive point-of-view variation that almost changes the game.
“Focus”
★ ★ ½
Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Gerald McRaney, B.D. Wong
Directed by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Other: A Warner Bros. release. Rated R for language, sexual situations, violence. 105 minutes