Review of Focus (2014) by James D — 19 Aug 2015

"I almost lost "focus" watching this movie because the characters fail to bring any depth in them".

Movie Review: Focus.

Date Viewed: February 27 2015.

Written and Directed By Glenn Ficarra & John Requa (Crazy Stupid Love).

Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, Robert Taylor, B.D. Wong, Dominic Fumusa, Brennan Brown and Griff Furst.

Movies about con artists are very difficult to make. David O'Russell and Steven Soderbergh mastered the con man world very well with "American Hustle" and "Ocean's Eleven". "Focus" tries to be both movies and it almost pulled me out of the theater because the story is convoluted and hooey and the main characters aren't very well drawn. Will Smith and Margot Robbie (the hot babe from "The Wolf of Wall Street") give fine performances in a movie filled with mistakes and complicated situations.

Smith plays Nicky Spurgeon, a master con man who goes into a nightclub looking for some trouble but he runs into an inexperienced grifter named Jess Barrett (Robbie). Jess wants Nicky to teach her the tricks of the trade, he details all of the information she needs to become an experienced con and eventually they develop a romantic relationship. When she gets too close for his con life, Nicky breaks it off with her.

Three years later, Nicky is now working for billionaire owner Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro). Rafael owns a motorsport team in Buenos Aires and during a pre-race party, Nicky runs into Jess who is Rafael's femme-fatale girlfriend. He begins to pursue her again and what do you know, Jess can't take her eyes off of Nicky. Even though they rekindled their relationship, Nicky and Jess are now in the midst of a dangerous game.

The best thing in this entire movie involves a compulsive gambler (played by B.D. Wong) trying to out game Nicky at a professional football game. I would've loved to see more of him but the movie wants to spend more time with Nicky and Jess who are cut out characters. Even though Smith and Robbie played their roles straight, the billionaire bad guy is even worse. Rodrigo Santoro is completely out of focus here. "Focus" is not a very good movie but at least it's a better vehicle for Will Smith than his last movie, the sci-fi abomination known as "After Earth".