Focus (Nik's Piks: Movie Review)

My hopes were high for the 2015 film Focus starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie. After all, it seemed like a promising Vegas-style crime story similar to Oceans Eleven. Unfortunately, not even sexy Smith and stunning Robbie could carry this mediocre script that started off decent but went downhill fast. 

The film starts off when a chance meeting between con man Nicky Spurgeon (Smith) and Jess Barrett (Robbie) leads to a business arrangement where Nicky agrees to teach Jess the tricks of his "trade." However, Nicky gets more than he bargained for when he develops feelings for Jess and she becomes a "liability" to his way of life. When he terminates their professional and personal relationship, he becomes the victim of his own game and discovers he is the wrong party in a game of cat and mouse.

"Love will get you killed in this racket. No place for that shit here. No happiness with that." ~ Focus

Once I was able to get past the cliché of the powerful, older man and the gorgeous, young blonde (there is a 22 year age difference between the two), I truly hoped for some movie magic. Robbie is charming and the on-screen chemistry between Smith and her is sexy and playful. I also enjoyed Adrian Martinez's performance as Nicky's right-hand man, Farhad. But, overall, do not expect much from this film besides a few good lines and a couple of interesting surprises. The problem is the script seemed to run away with too many twists making the story, well, ridiculous. 

Focus is rated R for language, some sexual content, and brief violence. 

Read more of Nik's Piks: After Hours movie reviews.