Focus

When a film hinges on a group of like-minded con artists gaining the upper hand on each other it’s difficult to keep an open mind about the story. Everything is unbelievable because everything is shrouded in layers of lies and deceit. Focus is no different, and while there have been plenty of successful con movies over the years, this one loses focus rather quickly and never truly regains it.

Nicky (Will Smith) is a con artist, one of the best in the business, so when the inexperienced Jess (Margot Robbie) tries to swindle him he instantly recognizes that he is being played. Seeing potential in her, however, he agrees to train her in his con artist ways as they head to New Orleans during one of the biggest gambling weeks of the year. After spending time together the two begin to have feelings towards each other, but not wanting to mix business with emotions, Nicky remains distant. Years later and Nicky is in Buenos Aires going after that one big con that’ll set him up for the rest of his life when Jess re-enters the picture and throws a wrench into his plans. Their romance rekindles, but it comes with a cost that could end up getting the both of them killed.

Focus is a con movie that tries to force a romance between two characters that don’t have any chemistry together. The main problem with having two con artists falling in love is that it’s never believable. You’re constantly questioning who’s trying to con whom and whether or not what somebody is saying is a lie. Nicky and Jess’s relationship is never believable. Most of the time they’re using each other to get what they want, whether it’s somebody else’s money or the other one into bed. So when they do end up telling the truth it doesn’t really matter because by that point you just don’t care enough.

The biggest flaw of Focus is that the story completely falls apart when you look at the bigger picture. There’s so much double crossing going on and lies within lies that practically everything falls apart by the time the credits start rolling. Certain scenes that were fine on their own make absolutely no sense when viewed within context of the whole story. Also, because the film is constantly trying to build bigger and bigger twists you’re always expecting more. Nothing dramatic ever has any impact because it’s typically nullified a few minutes later with some big reveal that you see coming from a mile away.

Focus has blurred vision and struggles to tell a believable story. I happy to say that Margot Robbie isn’t running some long con on Will Smith the entire time like I initially thought after seeing the first trailer, but that still doesn’t make the film any better. Unfortunately, the only truly successful con of the film will be any money you pay to see it.