I wish my mind worked like Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover’s.
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I watch Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s 2005 action movie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and I watch a mediocre Doug Liman action movie, saved mainly by the charm of its two leads and the headlines about the events in the dish. They watch the same movie and perceive the traits of an intelligent deconstruction of both the action-spy genre and married life. Check out their remakes of the TV series Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which premieres on Prime Video on February 2.
For those who weren’t alive in 2005 or haven’t seen the film since its release, Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a huge hit back then, with two of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the lead roles of private spies, although neither of them knew that the other was a spy. As a film it was good, it made a lot of money and for years there was talk of a sequel, but it never came to fruition. Until Amazon bought MGM and therefore the rights to the film, allowing Sloane and Glover to turn it into something the same but completely different.
See Donald Glover in the first trailer for the new series “Mr. and Mrs. Smith
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This version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith centers on John Smith (Glover) and Jane Smith (Maya Erskine), a couple of lost souls who are recruited by a secret organization to carry out dangerous missions while living incognito as a married couple. in a luxurious New York brownstone. Already, things are a little different, as the duo know that they are both spies from the beginning, and their relationship is one established by someone else, not built on a casual cute encounter. This, along with the fact that this is a series and not a movie, provides a much more nuanced vision of the concept that develops in a meta-deconstruction of both the genre and the theme.
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The series takes place over an extensive period of time. In each episode, we see the “happy” couple performing some new task for the mysterious supervisor whom they have baptized with the endearing name of Hihi, thanks to her greeting in the chat messages. There’s a common thread, of course, but most episodes are also mini-narratives about a certain aspect of relationships, each wrapped in a cliché or action movie trope. For example, the first episode is titled “First Date,” and in it the couple not only follows someone, but goes to a coffee shop on their first date. A later episode is titled “Do You Want Kids?”, but plays out as an escort mission in which the couple must confront a cranky older man who acts like a child as they try to save his life. Through clever twists like this, Mr. & Mrs. Smith turns routine spy action into a character study about marriage, its ups, its downs, and its in-betweens. It’s also quite funny, with just the right amount of wit to make it natural and not forced.
However, like the movie, the series survives thanks to the charm and chemistry of its two stars. The first episode opens with the deaths of two strikingly beautiful spies on the run (I won’t spoil the cameos), and firmly states that this Mr. and Mrs. Smith are not action stars. No, they are more human and interesting. Although both Glover and Erskine are attractive people, they are not traditional movie spies. However, they are perfect. The couple meshes perfectly in both arguments and flirting, making them a couple you not only enjoy watching, but one you believe in despite the extravagant circumstances of their relationship. The show knows that’s its strong point and plays to it, spending much of the series flirting, arguing, or just having charming rom-com conversations instead of spy stuff.
However, when espionage kicks in, the tension is surprising. In part, this is because the pair are not action superheroes, but rather ordinary humans. The action is intense, interspersed with good humor, and grows as the characters do. We watch as John and Jane become better spies, and as they do, the action gets bigger and bolder. By the end of the season, we see completely different and evolved characters, played to perfection by our two main stars.
The only complaint one could have is that the series feels a little lost in the middle of its first eight episodes. The visit to a marriage counselor is fantastically well done, but it also feels like a bit of filler. A great filler episode is a very small complaint, however, and it features one of the funniest jokes in the series, built steadily throughout the entire episode.
It’s almost a shame that Mr. & Mrs. Smith is so obviously tied to the original film. The series is light years more interesting, involving and intelligent than the movie, and it’s worrying that people don’t watch it, thinking it’s just another attempt to make money. But for those familiar with Glover’s work, it should come as no surprise that he is nothing of the sort. In a sort of reverse “a rose by any other name” situation, this series would actually benefit from any other name. Still, those who get past its remake status will discover some of the best action/comedy/espionage/romance/drama sequences we’ve seen in a long time.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith will be available on Prime Video on February 2.
2024-02-02 10:05:38
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