If you decide to go see Focus, only stay for the first half. Leave the theater, go home and re-watch Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven – a film Focus aspires to be – or Crazy. Stupid. Love. , the much better previous film from directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa. After about the 45 minute mark, Focus, which is genuinely enjoyable up to that point, devolves into a clichéd plotline that is as absurd as it is boring.
Will Smith plays Nicky, a veteran criminal who truly deserves the title of “con artist.” Nicky can convince anyone of anything and is such an expert on grifting that he can spot a sloppy con from a mile away. When Jess (Margot Robbie) attempts to pull a poorly conceived con on him, Nicky plays along for a while purely to be entertained. He’s also, though, auditioning Jess for a spot on his team as they prep for the annual event that is like blood in the water for con artists (a ConCon, if you will): the Super Bowl.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of “marks” travel to whatever city is hosting the Super Bowl – this year it’s New Orleans – just begging for guys like Nicky and his crew to strip them of their cash, wallets, watches, room keys and whatever else isn’t physically attached to their bodies. Nicky’s team descends upon the crowd to exploit their drunkenness and/or philandering, the moments they are most vulnerable. Jess, an amateur but a quick learner, is shown how the pros do it and the many, many rules that protect Nicky from ever getting caught or in over his head.
By this point in the movie, you’ll be enjoying yourself. The dialogue can be a little too on the nose at times (“You never drop the con. You never break.”), but it’s witty and the actors are nailing it. Just when you’re ready for the tables to be turned for the who’s-conning-whom? moment, Ficarra and Requa will throw in a twist you won’t see coming: the second half of the movie destroys all the good of the first half by becoming just plain stupid. The story jumps ahead three years when Nicky is attempting to pull a con that seems far simpler than the intricate jobs he’s handled in the past. His chances of success are hurt, though, when Jess unexpectedly appears. The rest of the film is a by-the-book romantic comedy with just a hint of con artist seasoning. There is no “Will they or won’t they?” because the audience just doesn’t care.
To put it kindly, Ficarra and Requa have an uneven track record of films. Their first feature, which they co-wrote, was the gutsy-yet-misguided Jim Carrey-starring indie I Love You Phillip Morris. They followed that up, though, with Crazy. Stupid. Love., one of the best films of 2011. It wasn’t their screenplay, but they injected plenty of their own brand of humor – and a good deal of heart – into the film. This is also the writing team that gave us Bad Santa, one of the most hilariously crude comedies of the last 20 years. It seems that Ficarra and Requa’s strength is comedy, but they struggle with genre. Focus should have been as slick and intelligent as Ocean’s Eleven, but it gets bogged down by the plot-heavy third act and ends up feeling more like a rip off of Confidence, a minor Ed Burns movie that should have been so much better.
Again, though, the first half is quite funny and gives us one great payoff before becoming a total mess. Smith, who hasn’t made a good movie since 2008 (2008!!!), is fantastic as the confident, fast-talking Nicky. He’s basically just playing himself, though (charming, handsome, funny), and that’s perfectly fine. The real surprise here is Robbie who gives a much more layered and genuine performance than one would expect. After nearly overshadowing Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie proves that she is capable of stealing the show from any leading man.
If you don’t want to waste the money at the theater, Focus will be available on Netflix and OnDemand by summer. Enjoy the first half, but then turn it off and watch something better.
First-half grade: B+
Second-half grade: D
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