Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)

Directed by Doug Liman. Starring Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn, Kerry Washington, Adam Brody, Chris Weitz, (voices) William Fichtner, Angela Bassett, David Keith. [PG-13]

John (Pitt) and Jane (Jolie) Smith have been married for five or six years, completely unaware that they’re secretly rival contract killers…and so, after their paths cross “on assignment,” let the battle of the sexes begin (Tracy and Hepburn never had it quite so rough). This mindlessly contrived and pumped-up double-billed star vehicle coasts on the thesis that sometimes all that’s needed for a feature film to succeed is a couple of beautiful famous people with solid chemistry; the filmmakers are kinda right, but there’s still an awful lot of clutter here. Fun in fits and starts for over an hour, but once the leads stop slugging it out, there’s still about forty minutes left to go without a villain, dramatic thrust, or anything noteworthy in the script besides the occasional double-meaning wisecrack. Slickly produced and directed with full awareness of its absurdity, but this is a premise and pairing that deserves better execution (pun not intended).

58/100