Focus (2015)

"There's two kinds of people in this world. There's hammers and there's nails. You decide which one you want to be."

Nicky Spurgeon (Smith) is a third generation con artist.  He is charmed by novice thief Jess (Robbie) and takes her on as an apprentice.  She is a quick study and fits easily with the rest of Nicky's crew.  But when he starts to fall for her, he walks away to avoid losing his edge.

Three years later Nicky is working a job in Buenos Aires.  He is hired by wealthy car own Garriga (Santoro) con a rival, McEwen (Taylor).  As he sets the plan in motion, he is startled to see Jess on Garriga's arm.  Garriga's right-hand man Owens (McRaney) already doesn't trust Nicky.  Can he pull off the con and win Jess back?


I enjoy heist movies.  I especially enjoy smart con movies that are layered and unpredictable: the audience believes one thing until the end when it was revealed that you didn't know everything that was happening (i.e. The Art of the Steal, Now You See Me, Oceans 11, etc).  Based on the description and the trailer of this film, that's what I was expecting... but it never quite reaches that potential.

The story starts well, setting up the world of Will Smith's character.  The world is detailed and fast moving.  You meet the characters and immediately understand them, even as further layers are revealed.  Will Smith is charming and relaxed in the role.  Margot Robbie is fine as the ingenue.  And then everything changes, and the movie is no longer focused on the con, it's now a romance with a little thieving on the side.

The tone shift changes the pace of the film, and slows down the action.  Instead of a smart film that makes you watch everything to see if you can spot the twist, it becomes a game of "who do you trust?".  Which characters are telling the truth and which characters are lying?  Do you even care?

Glenn Ficarra and John Requa wrote and directed the film.  They have served as a screenwriter on several films, and made their directorial debut with the film I Love You Phillip Morris, which they also wrote (which I hated).  Their second time in the director's chair was Crazy, Stupid, Love (written by Dan Fogelman).  I don't love their screenplays, but they tend to do well as the director (I am intrigued by their next film The Taliban Shuffle, written by Robert Carlock).  They had some good ideas, and assembled a likeable cast, with Adrian Martinez's Farhad as the standout.  The film as a whole is ok, not great.  I expected more, and maybe a different screenwriter would elevate the material.

Decent, but not great.

Focus (2015) 105 minutes
Rating: R for language, some sexual content and brief violence
Director: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Starring: Will Smith as Nicky Spurgeon
Margot Robbie as Jess Barrett
Adrian Martinez as Farhad
Gerald McRaney as Owens
Rodrigo Santoro as Garriga
BD Wong as Liyuan Tse
Brennan Brown as Horst
Robert Taylor as McEwen
Dotan Bonen as Gordon
Griff Furst as Gareth