Focus

THERE were only two things that disappointed me in Will Smith and Margot Robbie's latest effort, but apart from those few things - which I'll cover later - I thoroughly enjoyed Focus.
Smith stars as seasoned con-man Nicky Spurgeon, whom Robbie's Jess Barrett tried to seduce and con. Nicky knows what's on and smoothly works his way out of the situation.
He takes Barrett under his wing, teaches her the tricks of the trade, and the pair make millions as Nicky's crew goes to work through a series of slick scenes.
The pair develop an intimate relationship despite Nicky's father warning him to never get involved with anyone in the operation, but that is shattered when the crew disbands after a successful haul.
From there the film essentially restarts a few years in future, but even though that sounds like a bad thing it works well.
Both Nicky and Barrett, as well as the returning Farhad (Adrian Martinez), develop over the the three-year gap and their progression serve to give their stories a new edge.

But even a few days after watching the film I'm still struggling to work out both how to describe Focus, and into which genre it would fit.
Parts of the film seem to be borrowed from drama, another part is from thriller, there's plenty of comedy and the romantic focus on Nicky and Barrett obviously adds another aspect.
While they can work well if they're put together the right way, directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa can't seem the get the right balance.
The finished product remains a jumble of what it is trying to be versus what it actually is.

The film is still bloody good despite those issues, which is disappointing when you imagine what it could've been had they got it all right.