Movie Review: “Focus,” Already Underrated

Most reasonable people can agree on the truly great movies (think “The Godfather”) and the truly terrible movies (pretty much anything about Hercules) but most movies are somewhere in the mediocre zone and that’s where the disagreements start. Why does “Chappie” get a 30 percent on Rotten Tomates while “Focus” gets 55 percent and why do they both technically fail when “Cinderella” gets flying colors? Because it’s these middle-quality movies that are guaranteed to make things personal since why they move you—or why they don’t—is going to really depend on who you are as much as the movie itself.

All of that is a long way of saying that I really enjoyed “Focus” even though I know it’s not technically a great movie but sometimes just an appealing, smarter-than-you-think film that’s built around great chemistry is good enough to really catch you in the right mood and make you glad you still leave the house to go watch a movie without explosions or aliens or superheroes.

What Works: “Focus” is a movie that relies on star performances, dialogue-driven scenes, and characters but it’s pitiful how old-fashioned that is. It’s surprising that a movie like this was even made by a big studio as its terrain has now become the turf of independent shingles, and it’s sad to think that this wasn’t the case since the 1930’s (or the dawn of movies with sound) all the way up until about five years ago. After it was over, it made me a little nostalgic for elegant, well-crafted big studio films with characters you wanted to be or at least pretend you could be while in their company for two hours, and that feeling might have made this a lot more moving than it otherwise would have been.

It’s also worth noting since Will Smith first became a mega-star off of fat blockbusters (he was Mr. Fourth of July for nearly a decade) of wildly varying quality at a time when most A-listers weren’t starring in those movies, but he’s now transitioned into a film like “Focus” while the rest of Hollywood has gone Comic-Con crazy. But I’m glad he did because this might be the most appealing performance of his career: he’s confident without being cocky, and a little world weary around the edges, but the maturity looks good on him. The “Bad Boys” and “Fresh Prince” persona is nowhere to be found and what’s left is a character that’s very smooth but guarded and exhausted, while slowly willing to be more open. It could be a good allegory for the point Smith is at himself, since after nearly twenty years of mostly (but not always) playing blockbuster roles he’s admitted he no longer cares about how much money his films make. Right now, there may be no better actor in Hollywood to play a con man than Smith.

He also has great chemistry with Margot Robbie, and she’s nearly as good: sexy, funny, shockingly warm, and even pulling off a really good American accent. Gerard McRaney is always welcome in a tough-guy supporting role. But the real draw is the film’s terrific overall atmosphere: inviting and patient as a glass of bourbon. It’s like sitting in the first class lounge of an airport terminal: you’re not really going anywhere (yet) but you almost don’t care because there’s just something comforting about being around that much casual, unpretentious luxury.

What Doesn’t: You have to buy some pretty outlandish plot coincidences—at least two of which involve Robbie’s character being at the exact right place at the exact right time. There are some plot points that don’t fully add up, and the “sex” scenes between Smith and Robbie are so self-consciously conservative they’re no more revealing than a scene between 1940’s movie stars. I like the movie’s old fashioned emphasis on characters, but it’s still an R-rated romance where the leads never do much “together” that’s not PG-rated.

What I Would Have Done Differently: Is there a job in all of movie-don more romanticized than con man? In real life, most con-men are complete sociopaths so a movie might reflect that sometime (and be all the more exciting for it), but I understand that this isn’t that movie.

Anyway, good performances, sharp direction, and fairly interesting characters used to be about as good as it got for a mainstream movie. “Focus” proves it still is.