Focus (2015)

"It's about distraction. It's about focus. 

The brain is slow and it can't multitask. 

Tap him here, take from there."

For a film titled ‘Focus’, it’s ironic how little focus it actually had...

Veteran con artist Nicky’s latest scam is put in jeopardy when a woman from his past shows up and throws his plans for a loop.

I love a good hustle. Films like 'Oceans 11', ‘Rounders’ or ‘The Italian Job’ always keep me entertained and thrilled at the intelligence of the con. It’s all about the misdirection with a dash of wit and a whole lot of style.

The first half of ‘Focus’ is all of what I love about these films. 
It’s smart, funny and oh so cool.

Margot Robbie plays Jess, an amateur con woman who meets master of the con - Nicky, played by Will Smith. Nicky decides to take Jess under his wing and train her in his art. Maybe his motives are lead by his ability to spot raw talent in Jess but I think it’s more likely that he's being lead by a stronger force than his brain…

It’s interesting to watch him teach Jess the basics with his charming wit and quick sleight of hand. There's gambling, wallet lifts and heaps of mis-direction. I always enjoy this aspect of the heist/con movie when you actually get an inside look into the workings of the criminal organisation. It’s all about the job and making as much money as possible while following as few laws as possible. 

At this point in ‘Focus’ I was very optimistic as to where the film was heading. I was expecting clever twists and turns, big money on the line and bucketloads of style. Unfortunately when the film is just about to pick up, it stops dead… It grinds to an absolute halt.

It’s like a film of two very distinct halves. After act one finishes, we are left with a slow, dull and pretty unconvincing story. What started out as a smart and interesting con movie turns into a yawn-fest about Will Smith and Margot Robbie's love story. It slows the pace of the film right down and makes it feel like a four hour movie. It just becomes a tedious love story that is so drawn out and, at the end of the day, not very convincing.

Will Smith was relatively credible as Nicky. He’s believable with his charm and prowess but his character seems to be confused. Nicky is a master con man but, when it’s convenient, turns into a weak, soppy dunce who (excuse the phrase) "can’t keep his shit together”. He excels in the humour and the charm of Nicky’s character but struggles through some of the awkward romantic lines. He plays Will Smith and relies on his own personality to get through some of the more clunky dialogue, which is fine but it does take you out slightly.

Margot Robbie as Jess just plays her character Naomi Lapaglia from ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. She’s functional as Jess but I just don’t believe her for the most part. She’s attractive but that shouldn’t be as deep as we go with her. It’s nice watching her and Will Smith together because, let’s face it, they’re both model material but I definitely want more. A wasted opportunity for what could have been a really interesting and troubled character.

This being said, they have a lot of chemistry together. You can just feel the sexual tension between the two and it gets pretty steamy, pretty quickly. That's where it ends for me though, it definitely feels like they want each other but I don't for one second believe their love story. Whether there is a real spark there or not I'll never know but there's definitely something there between them... My blog just turned into a gossip mag.

After we trudge through the repetitive love story, the plot winds up being extremely silly and totally unbelievable in the end. There are so many coincidences and convenient plot points that it gets harder and harder to genuinely stay with it. I can suspend belief up to a point but when it becomes laughable then it’s time to check out. 

The climax is convoluted and over complicated with “twists” that are so unbelievable and crowbarred in when you actually break them down, they don’t make any sense. It tries to be smarter than the audience, which is fine because I love being fooled by an intelligent ruse in a plot but it has to respect us enough at the same time. Trying to rub it in the audience’s face that they’ve been deceived by a twist that isn’t even believable (or foreshadowed) is just a dangerous move. There were laughs in the cinema at the twists that just kept coming and got more and more ridiculous... 

Therein lies the problem. ‘Focus’ was all over the place, it lacked focus.

It didn’t know whether or not it was a con movie or a romantic drama. We get a lot of Will Smith showing off his pecks and Margot Robbie biting her lip but when we’re promised an exciting film about the art of the con then you’d better deliver. When you have such a strong opening (promising a certain type of film) and then you completely change the genre then you’d better make sure it works. It can work, a film such as ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ does it well enough. A crime thriller that completely flips to become a vampire/action/horror film. Unfortunately, 'Focus' doesn’t get it right.

The best part of this film is definitely Adrian Martinez as Farhad. He plays Nicky's best friend and fellow criminal who is totally rude, crude and hilarious. He manages to steal every scene he's in and even takes the spotlight away from Will Smith for the most part. Would love to have seen more of him rather than the dull love story between Jess and Nicky.

‘Focus’ is a film that had a serious amount of potential but ultimately doesn’t deliver. It feels more like a vehicle for Will Smith rather than a smart, sexy movie about a con artist couple. I was even expecting to hear a Will Smith song in there somewhere...

If you’re looking for something intelligent, entertaining and sexy then you’ve got to check out the BBC TV show ‘Hustle’. It has class, smart moves and some extremely gripping writing. You’ll be fooled by it over and over again but you’ll always come back for more. 

Despite all of this... We still love you Will.