REVIEW: Focus

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Here’s a piece of belated advice for filmmakers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa: when the second half of your con artist romance lulls viewers with haphazard pacing and a lackluster central performance, you probably shouldn’t go with Focus as a title. It leaves you wide open for critics who like to make bad puns in their reviews.

It’s too bad, considering the writer-directors (who also helmed the far superior Crazy, Stupid, Love.) launch the caper with a truly fun opening sequence and a dazzling scheme that takes up the first hour. But once the story shifts to a different con that’s more elaborate, yet far less interesting, the excitement deflates really fast.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because – uneven as it is – Focus will be remembered as the movie that made Margot Robbie one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Will Smith might get top billing, but there’s no question who the real star is. The last time I saw a performance this transformative was Emma Stone in Easy A. Maybe even Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

Smith plays Nicky, a brilliant con artist who recognizes similar talent in Jess (Robbie) when she attempts to play him in a hotel bar. He goes along, just to see what happens, then points out all the mistakes she made along the way. But she impresses him enough to earn a spot on his team as they work a number of lucrative rackets during a Super Bowl-like event in New Orleans.

After a rousing sequence involving a high-stakes gambler (BD Wong, in a fantastic performance), Nicky ditches Jess because he’s terrified of getting too close. They don’t see each other again until three years later, when Nicky is attempting to steal classified designs from Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro), a cocky F-1 racing owner, and sell them to competing teams. Guess who Garriga’s new girlfriend is?

For a while, at least, Focus feels like a return to form for Smith. In the first hour, his chemistry with Robbie is off-the-charts. Their romantic interactions are funny, flirty and downright hot, while their mentor/novice business relationship is equally entertaining.

But something weird happens when the story makes that three-year jump. The actor’s charisma disappears and the dazzling Robbie has to carry the entire movie on her shoulders. (Although she does get some help from the great Gerald McRaney, who plays Garriga’s grouchy, suspicious right-hand man.)

The script collapses under the weight of too many unnecessary plot turns, which end up muddying characters’ motives. In the long run, the so-called “twists” don’t even mean much, considering the movie telegraphs them from the opening scenes. Anyone who’s seen a con-artist movie before should spot them coming a mile away.

If Ficarra and Requa had added 30 minutes to the superior first half, Focus might’ve served as a minor Will Smith comeback. Instead, it’s the latest speed bump in his continually lackluster career. Still, it’s worth recommending (slightly) because of Robbie’s star-making turn, solid performances from a number of character actors and Xavier Grobet’s gorgeous cinematography.

Focus is rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence.

Grade: C+