A Good Premise Doesn't Replace a Story
It's not tough to imagine how Mr. & Mrs. Smith got the greenlight. The promise of the premise is: two of today's hottest movie stars try to kill each other... sexily.
And you know what? Promise kept. Mr. & Mrs. Smith milks its premise for everything it's worth-- it's fun and it's sexy. But all that sexiness just wasn't enough. We needed more story.
This is a movie that desperately needed an A plot; a story spine, beyond our two characters, from which to hang the best moments of sexual tension. Because between Brad and Angelina botching their shared gig, and then destroying their house together (read: from the end of the first act to the end of the second act) NOTHING HAPPENS. All the weight of the film rested on that fun, sexy premise. But we get tired of the same kind of tension again and again. I should kill my spouse, I can't kill my spouse, repeat.
The sexy cat-and-mouse may have been the thing we wanted to see, but it should've been the B plot. It would have made so much more sense to keep the A plot their mutual target. These two should have been getting in each other's way en route to a distinct goal involving a 3rd party.
Sometimes the best way to get to the fun stuff is to allow it to happen along the way.
Now let's all go back and re-watch Out of Sight.
It's not tough to imagine how Mr. & Mrs. Smith got the greenlight. The promise of the premise is: two of today's hottest movie stars try to kill each other... sexily.
And you know what? Promise kept. Mr. & Mrs. Smith milks its premise for everything it's worth-- it's fun and it's sexy. But all that sexiness just wasn't enough. We needed more story.
This is a movie that desperately needed an A plot; a story spine, beyond our two characters, from which to hang the best moments of sexual tension. Because between Brad and Angelina botching their shared gig, and then destroying their house together (read: from the end of the first act to the end of the second act) NOTHING HAPPENS. All the weight of the film rested on that fun, sexy premise. But we get tired of the same kind of tension again and again. I should kill my spouse, I can't kill my spouse, repeat.
The sexy cat-and-mouse may have been the thing we wanted to see, but it should've been the B plot. It would have made so much more sense to keep the A plot their mutual target. These two should have been getting in each other's way en route to a distinct goal involving a 3rd party.
Sometimes the best way to get to the fun stuff is to allow it to happen along the way.
Now let's all go back and re-watch Out of Sight.
posted by Jennica at 3:34 p.m.
3 Comments:
I thought Mr and Mrs Smith battle scenes was treading on War Of The Roses territory myself
Except without the sly build-up and dark humour, right MQ?
Roses seemed to me to be about the details: what he did at her party, what she did to his dog. In Smith the only details were the size and shape of their guns. Definitely less memorable!
The best thing about this movie was Vince Vaughn. Surprisingly, I think I can say that about most of the movies he's in.
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