Focus (DVD REVIEW)
Focus
DVD
Review
by Kam Williams
Will Smith Cat-and-Mouse Crime Caper Comes to DVD
Jess Barrett
(Margot Robbie) is an aspiring con artist who picked the worst guy to
steal a wallet from when she settled on Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith).
She had no reason to suspect that he was a third generation flimflam
man descended from a grandfather who ran a crooked poker game in
Harlem back in the day.
Nicky was
more curious than infatuated when he accepted the seductive
stranger’s invite up to her hotel room after sharing drinks at a
bar in midtown Manhattan. So, he was ready when an accomplice (Griff
Furst) posing as her berserk husband burst in brandishing a fake gun.
Rather than
hand over his wallet, Nicky calmly laughs and schools the two in the
flaws of their little shakedown, such as not waiting until he was
naked to try to rob him. Jess is so impressed that she not only
confesses, but begs him to take her on as a protégé, giving him a
hard luck story about having been a dyslexic foster kid.
Nicky agrees
to show her the ropes, and even invites her to join his team of
hustlers about to descend on New Orleans where they plan to
pickpocket plenty of unsuspecting tourists. They’re also set to
hatch an elaborate plan to fleece a wealthy compulsive gambler (BD
Wong) of over a million dollars.
Though Jess
proves to be a fast learner and the plot is executed without a hitch,
Nicky is reluctant to include her in his next operation after they
become romantically involved. Instead, he moves on alone to
Argentina, where he hopes to
bilk a racing
car mogul (Rodrigo
Santoro) of
a small fortune.
The plot
thickens when Jess is already draped on the arm of the playboy
billionaire by
the time Nicky arrives in Buenos Aires. Is she in love with the
handsome Garriga or
simply staging her own swindle? Will she expose Nicky as a fraud or
might she be willing to join forces with her former mentor?
Co-directed
by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy, Stupid, Love), Focus is an
overplotted, cat-and-mouse caper which ostensibly takes its clues
from the cleverly-concealed classic House of Games (1987). But where
that multi-layered mystery was perfectly plausible, this frustrating
homage unnecessarily ventures from the sublime to the ridiculous,
thereby sabotaging any chance that its promising premise might be
played out in serious fashion.
Nevertheless,
co-stars Will Smith and Margot
Robbie generate
enough chemistry to steam up the screen and make the farfetched
romantic romp just worth the watch, provided eye candy alone can do
for you in lieu of credulity.
Good (2
stars)
Rated R for profanity, sexuality
and brief violence
Running time: 105 minutes
Distributor: Warner Home
Entertainment Group
Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Extras: Masters of
Misdirection: The Players in a Con; Will Smith: Gentleman Thief;
Margot Robbie: Stealing Hearts; deleted scenes; and an alternate
opening.
To see a trailer for Focus, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vY9UPiI4eQ
To order Focus on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack,
visit:
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