Mr & Mrs Smith (review)

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My Rating **** Genre – Crime/Caper Run Time 8 episodes of 50 minutes Certificate – 18 Country – U.S Awards – 10 wins & 64 nominations EMMYS - 2 Emmy nominated Mr & Mrs Smith is the smartest TV comedy drama up for an award this year. There is so much mediocre stuff out there right now as writers and directors try to appease studio bosses by not upsetting any race, gender or country it was refreshing to actually see this materialize. It’s a spy thriller over 8 episodes based loosely on that movie with Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie, two spies masquerading as husband & wife for cover and working for the C.I.A, but in this case for unknown and unseen shadowy employers. It’s set in the big American city in the modern day and so woke casting could not be avoided with African American actor Donald Glover and Japanese American Maya Erskine in the lead. ===The Plot=== So, through a recruitment process we meet '30somethings' John (Glover) and Jane (Erksine) , paired up by unseen employers as a spy team, required to live the life of a compatible middle-class suburban couple in a brownstone in Brooklyn, now known as Mr & Mrs Smith. Their lifestyle is all paid for as they await their first mission together. We are not sure how physically and military trained they are as we didn’t see that stuff but there first action on a snowy ski resort required just that as they engage in a firefight and a bungle that mission as their target escapes. If they fail three missions over a period of time they are no longer on the program. They sort of get to know and like each other and at ease, a love of some sort. But they soon start to be tested by the stress of the job. The targets are never explained and the instructions texted to them and a somewhat phlegmatic style of dispatching the targets, their skill set fully tested every mission. But when they meet another couple on the program they begin to have doubts about whom they are working for, their relationship and what happens if they fail three missions? --Result-- Straight from the off this is different from your normal glossy spy action drama, no big lugs here like Reacher and Jack Ryan ripping off their shirts, blowing things up or cracking skulls in every scene. In the fact the spy stuff takes second place to their everyday lives as a couple trying to fall in love ends up a violent metaphor for marriage by the end,of it, less gadgets and guns and more arguments over relationship stuff. I love the way the director and writer allow the two leads to improvise their dialogue in the more tender places so to get a more natural reaction between the actors. I’ve not seen that before in this type of drama. They are sexy in their own way with Glover as cool as a ‘blacksploitation’ star of the seventies- minus the camel coat .tight leather trousers -and Erskine the emancipated metrosexual woman who can do anything a guy can but still in need of emotional support. They are so natural together you can see the casting director has done their work. The slick soundtrack layers on more atmosphere and class. There is action although the killing and missions don’t really have any context in the greater scheme of things and you are left to decide what’s going on and what’s the point of all this. The final two episodes tail off as you sense the writing teams were not sure they would get a second series and it has the feeling they were writing on the hoof and the first few episodes went out without the final two written, This is not uncommon in the American studio system so the opening episodes have to be the best of the runt, good shows brutally cut after one season, lesser shows after the pilot. If you like your drama/comedy smart and intelligent then this is for you. ===RATINGS=== Imdb.com – 7.1/10.0 (40,200votes) Rottentomatos.com 91% critic’s approval Metacritic – 78% ===Trailer===