Film: Mr & Mrs Smith

Mr & Mrs Smith has a fun premise: a husband and wife are, unbeknownst to each other, assassins, and each is hired to kill the other. Or, at least, that's the word on the street. The film is most fun for the short period that this premise holds, but there's a ridiculous twist (because there has to be a twist) and it's really all just a metaphor for a relationship in trouble - but look, they have more in common than they thought, and once they discover that...

But is it any good? Passable entertainment, amusing in places.

Despite rumours of on-set problems, Doug Liman is a capable director, though I question his decision to give a minor role to Adam Brody (Liman exec produces The OC). Pitt and Jolie generally seem to be enjoying themselves. But the real problems are with the plot. The film doesn't have an ending (seriously, it treats its own plot so lightly that it simply does not bother to resolve it, or even hint as to how it may have been resolved off-camera). I suspect that rather a lot of footage ended up on the cutting room floor - it is probably too long at 2 hours, anyway - but what really irks me is the twist, which I will discuss in spoilertext (highlight to read - unless I change the background colour of the blog at some point, in which case you'll be spoiled. Sorry, but style is more important, and substantial, than this plot):

There is any number of ways of setting up the basic premise quite by accident. Unfortunately, this film feels the need to have a "big reveal", presumably just because every other film has one these days, and it's nonsensical. It transpires that the two agencies the Smiths work for have just - after 4 (or 5) years discovered that they are married, cannot tolerate this, and decide to get together to bump them off. Which they do by sending Brody out to be assassinated by both Smiths simultaneously, apparently hoping that they will both kill each other in the process, leaving Brody alive. There is simply no need for this ridiculous "reveal" and I blame M. Night Shyamalan.
Bah. Spoilers end.