Kathmandu:

Compared to the classic ‘War Of The Roses,’ (but with guns) and in partial content to French born, ‘True Lies,’ ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ was overwhelmed by the rumours of a romance between stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. From The 60’s Cleopatra to Bennifers doomed Gigli, on-set romances are said to be Box Office disasters. Said Jeff Shannon of the movie,”It offers automatic weapons and high explosives as the cure for marital boredom. The premise of this action-comedy is that the unhappily married Smiths (Pitt and Jolie) will improve their relationship once they discover their mutually-hidden identities as world-class assassins. But things get complicated when their secret-agency bosses order them to rub each other out. There’s plenty of amusing banter in the screenplay by Simon Kinberg and director Doug Liman gives Pitt and Jolie a slick, glossy superstar showcase that’s never boring. Its an action-packed summer confection, Mr. and Mrs. Smith kills two hours in high style”. Even as Pitt and Jolie flirted off screen, on screen they were seeking marriage counselling. As Tom Brooks puts it, “They are a seemingly settled suburban husband and wife who don’t know they both work as assassins for rival firms.

Over to hit Director Doug Liman who made millions with ‘The Bourne Identity’, “They end up getting the same assignment and start to figure out that the other one may not be the boring person they’re pretending to be. And suddenly these two people who really haven’t been looking at each other for five or six years of marriage, are interested in looking at each other for the first time.” Writer Simon Kinberg who wrote the movie as a College Project says of the characters, “You put a gun in Jolie’s hand, and you don’t have to explain it. You believe that if she gets into a fistfight with Brad, she could handle herself. It feels like, I want to watch those people have breakfast. I want those people to have sex. I want to watch those people go on vacation.”

Says Jolie, “I thought it was a fun concept, having been married twice and not quite figured it out myself. And then you realise they are both assassins.” Remarked Angelina Jolie, of a controversial dance scene “The tango is a great dance, we love that dance. And it’s two people trying to frisk each other and kill each other and question each other during a dance. Between cracking my head against the wall and breaking my wrist, it’s very romantic, in a very weird way.” Sums up Tom Brooks, “The couple deliver their snappy dialogue very well and are the perfect on-screen couple. Liman, who directed ‘The Bourne Identity’, has earned praise for making another kinetic action thriller.”