Susan Granger’s review of “Focus” (Warner Bros.)
Before he became enmeshed in disasters like “After Earth,” “Seven Pounds” and “Winter’s Tale,” Will Smith ruled the box-office with the “Men in Black” franchise and “Independence Day.” Now he’s back in this crime caper.
When debonair con-man Nick Spurgeon (Smith) challenges beautiful Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie) after she scams him at an upscale Manhattan hotel, she begs to become his protégé. A few months later, she eagerly joins him in New Orleans, where Nick and his highly-trained cohorts cleverly rob unsuspecting tourists in the French Quarter. Predictably, a romantic relationship develops but once the job is done – it’s over.
Or is it? Years later, they meet again in Buenos Aires, where Nick has hatched a Formula 1 auto car racing scheme. That catapults them into a Superdome skybox as Nick matches wits with a rich Chinese gambler. Saying more would constitute a “spoiler.”
What’s most fascinating is how Nick instructs Jess in the art of deception and the psychological grift. That’s courtesy of technical advisor Apollo Robbins, a sleight-of-hand artist who now serves as a security consultant at Whizmob Inc.
Known as a theatrical pickpocket, Apollo specializes in taking objects from people’s jackets, pants, purses, wrists, fingers and necks – and returning them in amusing ways. His first claim to fame came from pick-pocketing Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service agents.
Written and directed by Glenn Ficcara and John Requa (“Bad Santa,” “I Love You Philip Morris,” “Crazy, Stupid Love”), the episodic, globe-trotting plot is, unfortunately, unevenly constructed.
While Australian actress Margot Robbie, best known as Leonardo DiCaprio’s trophy wife in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” is an alluring foil – dazzling in a red gown and black bikini – there’s little on-screen chemistry with Will Smith. Perhaps that’s because their characters are opaque and insincere.
But they get strong support from Gerald McRainey, B.D. Wong, Rodrigo Santoro and Adrian Martinez.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Focus” is a slick, subversive, if distracted 6, a mildly entertaining diversion.
