Worth seeing: | as a silly but highly entertaining and certainly unconventional romantic comedy |
Director: | Doug Liman |
Featuring: | Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Adam Brody, Chris Weitz, Jennifer Morrison, Kerry Washington, Michelle Monaghan, Perrey Reeves, Rachel Huntley, Vince Vaughn |
Length: | 120 minutes |
Certificate: | 15 |
Country: | US |
Released: | 10th June 2005 |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
John (Brad Pitt) and Jane (Angelina Jolie) Smith have been married “five or six years” and things aren’t going well.
But that’s not surprising when you consider that they’ve been keeping secrets from each other – their real jobs. Unbeknown to each other, they’re both assassins.
Their covers are blown when they’re double-booked for a hit and the target gets away.
Concluding that their marriage is a sham, each of them realises that the only way out is to turn their guns on each other.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
It doesn’t sound, from the outset, like this is a romantic comedy. It’s certainly not the stuff of Hugh Grant or Working Title.
But despite the inevitably vast body-count and the sheer pleasure garnered from each meticulously planned and executed kill, deep down, this is a thoroughly entertaining rom-com: a romantic comedy with killing.
Despite its subject matter – a couple whose marital difficulties leave counselling still feeling that they want to kill each other – it’s surprisingly fun. Even the killing is fun.
It’s a silly film, but everything from the guns and gadgets and the tongue-in-cheek humour to the non-stop comedy action and the sizzling on-screen chemistry of this (almost certainly) off-screen couple, make it almost impossible not to feel uncomfortably warm and satisfied throughout – and afterwards.