Directors: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
MPAA Rating: R
A glance in the wrong direction, the ground on which one stands – are you above or below the person? How easy is it to steal their wallet? Can you tap into their subconscious, use memories to bring back feelings? If Focus were directed by someone more attuned to how one can manipulate another person by tapping into their psyche and the physical aspects involved, it could have gone well beyond the typical con artist story.
But Focus is primarily concerned with being slick and flashy, maintaining the tension of pulling off a scam, regardless of its size. This would be perfectly fine if Focus were able to maintain its zippiness and charm, but eventually each aspect of Focus begins to run on fumes; the cons and the lack of banter between co-leads Will Smith and Margot Robbie in the film’s final act makes for a less satisfying finale. Simply put, directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa aren’t Steven Soderbergh, though they’ll certainly attempt to convince you.
For a while, Focus manages to be an extremely watchable piece of fluff. The setup is simple: a seasoned pro (Smith) teams up with an impressive young con artist and thief (Robbie), and they fall for each other. While each scam plays a major part, their romance is always central, and for a while, this pays off.
If there is an issue with their romance, it’s the completely misjudged or poorly explained motivations of Smith’s character near the end of the second act. Since Smith’s actions serve as the catalyst for the film’s final act, this severely affects the once sterling chemistry between Smith and Robbie, forcing them to pine for, rather than play off, each other. But this is neither actor’s fault: the spark between the two holds the film together through every rough patch.
Where the film truly excels is in its tensest moments. The best scene of the film is set in a faux-Super Bowl event, complete with high-stakes gambling, all scored to The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For the Devil,” a shockingly inspired sequence that breathes new life into an extremely overused musical cue.
But after that grift is over and each piece of the puzzle is shown to the viewer, Focus loses its way. Character inconsistencies and gaping plot holes begin to form, and the simplistic charm of the film becomes murky and overcomplicated. When the last few secrets are exposed, and the game is up, Focus fails to add up to more than a pale imitation of the films that inspired it.
