Mr. and Mrs. Smith: A Unique Perspective on the Classic Film

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is an intriguing new series premiering on Prime Video. Based on the Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie action flick of 2005 and several other remakes, the series attempts to delve into the individual personal lives of the two characters more, while creating a new type of relationship between the main characters.

Donald Glover stars with the absolutely adorable Maya Erskine as the titular characters. They and the crew bring together a new twist on both the characters and the relationship in this relative slow burn, along with unique filming overall that was extremely easy on the eyes.

Normal people?

The series opens with a strange interview of sorts, by computer, of John and Jane Smith. Clearly looking to find some sort of reprieve from everyday society and their abject pasts, they both sign on to be international spies with a company that remains illusive throughout the series.

The computer voice asks them a series of questions that would make most people shy away from such an occupation, but, for some reason, attracts them. They are assigned to each other based on personality dynamics and are set to live undercover as a “regular” married couple.

The first half of the series spends most of its time focused primarily on the characters and their dynamic together, intwining whispers of each of their pasts, as they navigate their assignments, which, as a whole are quite surprising for them. They never get a complete heads up of each assignment nor its safety risks.

Amazon Studios

They are generally whisked away to different places with little to no notice, circumnavigating the globe and made to deal with the requests of their illusive supervisors exactly when they are told to. More and more about their dynamics together are revealed as the story progresses, until a romance begins to bloom among the chaos.

Will it be love or violence?

Their affections deepen for each other while the danger of each of their missions get gradually more dangerous. When the inevitable “kill” mission comes to each of them for each other, they both must struggle with their personal emotions over their commitment to the job.

Much of the company’s demands and rules are changed for the series, as is their relationship. The fact that they are working together in this series brings a whole other set of “situationship” action that the 2005 film didn’t explore.

Having to spend day to day shut in together while working under such duress begs to bring the nasty out of any couple and soon the cracks on their beautiful facades show.

In all honesty…

Amazon Studios

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is an exquisitely filmed and overall intriguing series that is worth a watch.

I floundered a lot with what I thought about it, as it was such a unique style and approach to the subject matter. I did think that the progress was much too slow until half way through the season. Due to the nature of the relationship in this rendition, the series spent too much time on that aspect alone and missed out on a lot of chances for action.

If each episode would’ve been 30-45 minutes, it would’ve given them the urgency that is lacking in the 60 minute episodes. I had a hard time seeing a spy, action film turned into a odd relationship series, however, there is a deep intelligence to this written material and character aspects that the 2005 film sorely lacked.

Jane and John don’t have as much on screen chemistry as the film characters did, but there is an atmosphere of more knowing and grounded security here. It is inevitably difficult to believe that two people who do the jobs they do, could actually sustain a marriage or really any kind of “normal” relationship altogether.

Erskine’s portrayal of Jane is so charming I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She is awkward, socially inept, clumsy and wrapped in a heap of insecurities for such a daring and hard ass character. Her flaws humanized her more, but I would suspect that a spy would be more confident and not as soft and doubtful of herself. I do wish that the character in general would’ve been much more expressive and less quiet than what is portrayed.

Glover as John spent too much time closed up in his head. Portrayed as a super cool, bored, non emotional character, it was frustratingly difficult to get into and relate to the character. Though there are some breakthroughs here and there, I wanted to see more openness. When we do see emotion from John, he comes off as angry and arrogant.

Amazon Studios

His way of arguing with Jane made him look like more of an immature asshole and made me wonder the entire series what happened to him. What’s his story? Why does he act like that? Where was his big break from his facade to being an actual human being? If Jane can be sad, angry, confused, frustrated hurt and utterly flawed, why can’t he be? This John is sorely underdeveloped with fast moves and a dash of charm. His story arc created no lasting changes in his behavior or relatability.

Big kudos to the production design, cinematography and light design crew. The filming is absolutely brilliant with stunning locations, housing, restaurants, hotels and city life. I wanted to live in that world, without all of the violence, of course.

I’m not sure if this quite worked as a Mr. and Mrs. Smith reimagining. It felt more like they forced two different shows into one, causing a clash that didn’t feel like time well spent. Each episode should’ve been shorter to force the writers to get to the point sooner. It may have worked better if, for example, the two characters had been portrayed with the serious mental health issues that they would definitely have doing this job.

Pull in more narcissism and pain in John, and give Jane a tougher facade, who’s hiding her inner trauma with hyper independence, and maybe it could’ve conjured more conflict than the long winded talks they had, wasting precious action time, on park benches. Characters need acute issues that interfere with everything in order to be memorable, have their awakening/realization and pull it together by the end.

That said, there’s still a lot to appreciate about this unique series and I applaud the artists for giving it a shot. They dared to reach further out on the creative fruit tree and managed to bring something uncommonly entertaining to the plate. With so many people of color both on and off the screen, this series is an example of what ALL film and filmmaking should be.

Keep reaching for the rare fruit creatives, for progression and true change lie deeply connected to those who are brave enough to walk the path of the unknown, instead of helping everyone else beat the shit out of what’s already been done.