How would you feel if you realize your marriage was sputtering as a balloon losing air? For the women: what if your marriage was with Brad Pitt? Do you think you’d try to save it? For the men: how about if Angelina Jolie was your wife? Would you like one more chance to make it right?
From the start of the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie play the namesake couple seeking help for their floundering marriage. Looking at them, you wouldn’t think they needed counseling. They look incredible together, even though the chill in the air could freeze anything within the radius of a few feet.
As part of this week’s Women Who Wow Wednesday series, today’s highlight is Jane Smith. Be forewarned, if you haven’t seen this movie, spoilers lie ahead.
Meeting for the first time in Bogotá, Colombia, Jane approaches John on the run from the Columbian authorities. The attraction couldn’t be more genuine. Locked in a hug, the sound of sizzling fills the room. Without waiting, they marry. As the years move along, Jane becomes the perfect wife. Her home, immaculate. Her cuisine, extraordinary. Her marriage? Not so much.
In the whirlwind of their short courtship and subsequent marriage, Mr. & Mrs. Smith forgot one crucial element for making their relationship work. Honesty. They didn’t confess their innermost thoughts to one another. And—they didn’t tell what line of work they were in. Oh, they rehashed some made up story about working in an office, but they didn’t tell the whole truth. In essence, they lied to one another. Then they wonder why their marriage is sinking faster than an anvil placed on floating paper.
The truth? Both John and Jane are assassins. Pretty good ones, too. They work for competing agencies, vying for the same contracts in their small, niche industry fishbowl. When a mission Jane has assigned goes afoul, she discovers the reality. Her husband’s working for the other side. He has to go. At least, this is what her agency wants. Unbeknownst to her, John’s agency has a similar contract. She has to die, too.
One evening, as the Smiths have dinner in their lovely suburban home, a lively discussion ensues. Well, not that many words pass between them, but they sure know how to communicate. From one corner of the house to the other, their communication consists of firing at each other with live rounds of ammunition. Vases blow. Furniture explodes. Walls collapse. Still alive, baby? Your aim’s as bad as your cooking, sweetheart. And that’s saying something!
A few more attempts on her life, and Jane’s had it. She wants John taken out. Not so fast, there’s the small matter of what the agencies have done to perpetuate this hatred between the couple. Purpose-filled, analytical, she later learns the agencies played them against each other in an effort to even out the playing field once they were gone.
They take a last stand, and they eventually find themselves in marriage counseling once again. This time, they’re gushy-eyed all over each other. Their marriage survives intact.
RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, on sale October 22.
Have you seen Mr. & Mrs. Smith? What did you think of Mrs. Smith?
Looking to God 
this is my favourite movie as both my fav actor and actress are working in it and this has got some awesome chemistry going on I think…I love the action scene it’s like two in one
Oh my goodness, this is one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME and that particular love turned fight scene is at the very top of my list. Anger is a passionate emotion, and I think that passion of any variety can remind people they still feel something. This post made me smile!
Ah, Mrs. Smith. What a lady. The first half of that movie is so painful when you realize all the things they are not saying to each other. It’s obvious they have strong feelings for one another but that’s useless without a little communication.
Also sad, that gorgeous house ends up a pile of splinters.
Sometimes what’s not said makes the greater impact, for sure. Wasn’t that house beautiful? Ha, it certainly didn’t need the makeover it received at the hands of The Smiths!
I´ve seen the movie and I personally thought it wasn´t that great, to say the least. Just watched it because I like girls and guns, and the movie is a mixture of both. Plus you can see that my goddess Angie (we´re intimate) actually has done her homework as to how to move tactically with a rifle and shoot(most of the movie time), it ain´t that easy, espcecially hitting so many targets by yourself, what a precision,lets recruit her into the army and train her as a sniper….movies.
Well, is sure does say a lot on how a marriage can survive anything. We are a bunch of wimps these days when the trials seem to come our way. We need to get out the big guns and fight for our marriages more often. I really liked the movie. 🙂
I have not seen this one. I’m not completely sure if I want to. Angelina Jolie has never really appealed to me as an actress..maybe except for once and apparently I’m the only person on this universe that likes it for some odd reason…haha! I’ll definitely try and check out Mrs. Smith (or maybe Mr. Smith) 😉 Great post Jack!
I just love Wednesdays over at your blog! But you already knew that, right? 😉 I love this movie – and Mrs. Smith is one of the biggest reasons why. How great is that scene where they’re tearing down the highway in a stolen, shot up van, and she confesses to Brad that the people he thought were his in-laws were just actors she hired?!?
Who can ever forget that sequence? The highway looked like something out of a Transformers movie. One of my favorite scenes is this one here:
Hilarious!
And let’s not forget this scene:
LOL @ the marriage counselor scene! And then at the very end, their faces when John says, “ask us the sex question again” – priceless!
I’d forgotten that bit how funny. There were some great action shots in that movie.
There really were!
I love this movie, but they butcher it on television. Anyway, it took a little time to warm up to her, which I thought was the intent. John was a lot more lovable and friendly. I did notice that she seemed to be more subtle assassin with hidden garotte wires and knives. John was a lot of heavy artillery. I think the movie worked best because they complimented each other so well. So, it’s really hard to think of them as separate entities because of that.
Agreed, Charles. I found separating them challenging since they are equals on every level. But, as you pointed out, Mrs. Smith is analytical, a plotter, instead Mr. Smith is a both-guns-blazing-say-your-prayers type of guy. Love ’em both, though! I’ve never seen the television version.
It’s horrible. The final fight scene is cut up so poorly and the fight in the house makes it look like John never got a shot in.
I’m laughing, how did the holes in the wall get there? Did they appear out of Jane’s horrible nightmare? Now that I think about it, the scene may have been Jane’s most wonderful dream instead!
Great way to look at it. Still, nothing is as comical as a censored Die Hard movie on television. Man, those are horrific.
In a forest of rehashed plots I thought this stood out as unusually inventive. Not to mention the attractive cast… Another great choice…Angelina Jolie always manages to stand out and was a totally believable Mrs. Smith, I think.