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Even by the requirements of a Hollywood ecosystem the place all the things is IP, and IP is all the things, the concept of adapting a TV present from Mr. & Mrs. Smith appeared odd. The 2005 action-comedy exists within the pop-culture reminiscence much less as a film (although it’s wonderful) than because the origin story of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie‘s relationship. Remaking it with out them can be like rebooting Prime Gun with out Tom Cruise, or, if we’re getting actually loopy, making an attempt to make a Han Solo film that doesn’t star Harrison Ford. [Checks notes.] You get the concept.
The announcement that Amazon Prime Video was creating a Mr. & Mrs. Smith sequence felt thrilling regardless of the absence of Pitt and Jolie, nonetheless, as a result of it concerned a pair who can be thrilling in a really completely different approach: Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge had been set to each co-create and star. Actual-life romance, real-life schmomance. Whenever you put the minds behind Atlanta and Fleabag collectively, it might really feel like an occasion even when they had been remaking Gigli.
However then Waller-Bridge dropped out of the venture over artistic variations, Atlanta author Francesca Sloane took over as co-creator, and Maya Erskine from Pen15 stepped in because the present’s feminine lead. These are skills in their very own proper (Erskine additionally co-created Pen15), however not of a sufficiently big stature to beat the questionable thought behind the sequence within the first place. With out that titanic team-up, why hassle?
No matter that theoretical model of Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Waller-Bridge would have been, the precise present that Glover, Sloane, Erskine, and Co. have made is great. It cleverly inverts the film’s premise. It blends the very best components of retro TV and trendy TV, and deftly balances the ridiculousness of the core thought with the hazard of it. And if Glover and Erskine’s chemistry isn’t so scorching that you simply assume they have to be getting collectively in actual life, they play off one another extremely nicely all through. It’s a complete lot of enjoyable.
Within the film, Pitt and Jolie’s John and Jane Smith are an actual married couple who’re shocked to find that they’re assassins who work for rival firms. On the present, Glover and Erskine’s variations go in understanding that they’re working for a similar violent group — even when they do not know precisely what it’s, and don’t have any level of contact with their superiors apart from a gaggle chat with a seemingly chipper texter they dub “Hihi.” However right here, they’re complete strangers who’ve been positioned in a sham marriage, and are shocked to find it’s evolving into an actual relationship(*).
(*) This was additionally the premise of The Individuals, although that present performed it for heavy drama. At one level right here, Jane even notes that the KGB usually paired off deep cowl brokers, as a result of it might make them much less more likely to defect in the event that they had been a part of a pair.
Although Amazon is dropping all eight episodes as a binge launch, Sloane and Glover have constructed a sequence that, like Peacock’s nice Poker Face, follows a tried-and-true Case of the Week construction, and one laden with fabulous visitor stars. One hour may characteristic John and Jane making an attempt to get secrets and techniques out of a reclusive mogul performed by John Turturro, whereas one other offers you Sarah Paulson as a {couples} therapist making an attempt to assist John and Jane work by means of their points, whilst she has no thought what they really do for a dwelling. (Different friends embrace Parker Posey, Wagner Moura, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, Sharon Horgan, and Ron Perlman.)
Parker Posey pops up in ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith.’
David Lee/Prime Video
With a assassin’s row of administrators, a lot of them Atlanta alums like Hiro Murai, Amy Seimetz, and Glover himself, every episode feels distinctive and satisfying in its personal proper, whilst all of them observe the evolution of this weird romance. In an early dialog, Jane complains that she doesn’t know John. “Yeah,” he replies, “however we’re married.” He’s clearly desirous about her from the beginning, whereas she’s extra guarded, and tries to ascertain guidelines that can hold their actual and pretend lives separate. After all issues quickly flip messy, as you’d anticipate from two enticing individuals(*) sharing such shut quarters, and so many near-death experiences. And because the emotions begin to flip real, the missions turn into way more sophisticated.
(*) Glover particularly is decked out in probably the most fashionable, and tightest, suits attainable. The advantages of being an government producer in addition to a star is that you simply get to look your finest. The finale, which he directed, locations John in all white and Jane in all black, and the distinction — notably beneath the circumstances wherein they discover themselves — is visually dynamite. Additionally gorgeous to take a look at is the swank New York brownstone the corporate has renovated for our heroes, which is such actual property porn that it’s exhausting to inform if their neighbor Harris (Dano) is obsessive about it as a result of he’s additionally a spy, or if he’s simply envious of the place, which has a pool, an elevator, a rooftop composter, and a terrace only for yoga, amongst different thrives.
Glover and Erskine are finest identified for his or her comedy work, and there’s a whole lot of sly humor to be discovered within the emotional clashes between the 2. However the present additionally manages to take issues severely every time crucial. One episode finds John and Jane in Italy, defending a rich businessman (Perlman) from a seemingly infinite staff of employed killers; the motion is artistic and genuinely thrilling, and there’s by no means any doubt how succesful John and Jane are. (This makes a great double invoice with Erskine’s work within the improbable Blue Eye Samurai.) The {couples} counseling episode options a whole lot of entertaining bickering between the leads, however when it turns right into a deeper and darker argument, the feelings from each actors are grippingly uncooked.
Finally, the season even finds a solution to re-create among the dynamic of the film. By that time, it feels wholly earned. This Mr. & Mrs. Smith isn’t simply one of many higher cases of a seemingly pointless remake of a well-known title figuring out nicely; it’s genuinely terrific, whether or not or not you’ve even heard of Brangelina.
All eight episodes of Mr. & Mrs. Smith start streaming on Feb. 2 on Amazon Prime Video. I’ve seen the entire season.
