Review of Focus (2015) by Yorkman — 22 Nov 2015

Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) is a career con-artist who is targeted in a hotel bar by Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie) for a sting of her own after she spots his expensive suit and other accoutrements. Seeing through the scam instantly Nicky offers some advice on how to become better at conning others, and telling Jess to 'die with the lie', to never break character.

After joining Nicky's 'crew', the two begin to develop feelings for one another and as Jess develops her skills Nicky realises that his feelings will ultimately result in his failure to do whatever needs to be done if a con involving them both happens to go wrong.

He cuts her from the crew, and goes off on a high paying con involving a billionaire playboy who wants to ensure his motor racing team doesn't lose, by having Nicky pretend to be someone his competitors would want to pay in order to obtain some (useless) information.

As per usual there is the 'twist' ending....

The film itself is well shot and directed, the cinematography/editing capture the risk/reward element of professional cons being carried out, and the soundtrack is also very good indeed.

Smith and Robbie have great chemistry, and both are more than happy to expose some flesh as the film progresses. The supporting cast do a fantastic job too, and the camaraderie of the 'crew' is great to watch.

So, why only a rating of 4..? Two reasons. The first is the screenplay, that tries to be too clever and include elements from other (better) films. Also the twist ending makes no sense and, for me, completely negated a large element of the suspense of the third act when it's revealed. The second is the script, which attempts to be pop-culturist with characters making inane comments all the time which in no way endears you to them.

Overall, it's a well acted film, but would have been a lot better with a tighter script and a more well thought out screenplay.