Focus 2015

Wesley Morris, Grantland: [For Smith,] Focus isn't a full return to brilliance but a welcome stop, hopefully, on the way there. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: It's not that the movie keeps you guessing with its intricacy, it's more like it's making it up as it goes along. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: It's beautifully photographed and entertaining, with charming performances by Will Smith and newcomer Margot Robbie that tease and tantalize. You won't be bored. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The mix of longtime star and minx on the rise is one tasty element in the success of a movie that approaches the modest goals and effortless allure of a 60-year-old Hitchcock. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: While not quite the "art" it's billed to be, if the perfect con is about diverting one's focus, then this one keeps you distracted till the end. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Focus' problem isn't that its stars lack charm, but that it's squeezed into tight spaces between protracted explanations of setups, backstories, and twists-a poor example of the every-shot-must-convey-narrative-information school of filmmaking. Read more

Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: Although it brings nothing new to the con-artist fold, or even anything thrilling, "Focus" is a seductive enough rehash that benefits from the built-in pleasures of the trade. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: You come out feeling you've been had by well-intentioned crooks who aren't ready for the big show. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Smith wears it like a well-tailored suit, and the brisk, snappy dialogue is well delivered by an able cast. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Even in a lark about con artists working through their trust issues, we need more. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: This is the kind of movie where we're not supposed to know at any time who is playing whom, but since the characterizations are glossy and paper-thin, it's difficult to get worked up about who gets fleeced. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: It's a shiny, diverting ride. (And right about now, that's OK.) Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Smith's natural charisma has been dulled by special effects bonanzas and/or a desire to play against type. In "Focus," he feels like himself again, and he reminds you why he became one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the first place. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: The story is ludicrous...Yet Focus, Will Smith's mea culpa to moviegoers after the post-apocalyptic tedium of After Earth two years ago, is more breezily enjoyable than it has a right to be. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: What keeps the film humming along as smoothly as it does is the chemistry and charisma of its leads. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: Unfortunately, since the major characters' salient character traits are insincerity, opaqueness and untruthfulness, it's hard to invest much interest in any of them. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: The Hollywood stakes for Smith are as high as they are for the con man he plays. As it stands, "Focus" just might be a game changer. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: If Grace Kelly had been raised by coyotes, she might have stalked the screen like Focus' Margot Robbie, a va-va-voom blonde with bite Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: This kind of film needs a punchy right hook to follow up its clever, if outlandish, jab late in the game, and "Focus" doesn't deliver. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Focus is a shiny, stylish shell game of a film that, much like its protagonists, relies on breezy chatter, a good sense of humor and a lot of misdirection to succeed. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Like a counterfeit handbag: It looks great but falls apart when you reach into it. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: That sound you hear is the high-fives in the writers' room, and that, unfortunately, is where the filmmakers' focus remains. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Sexy stars, pretty cities, nice music and some tricky action. If that's a con game, well - I'm happy to be had. And you will be, too. Read more

Andrew Lapin, NPR: The second half feels like Ficarra and Requa ran out of ideas and just hit restart. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: In this lame caper, the biggest scam perpetrated is the one that makes audiences think they'll have a good time. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mostly, it is fun to watch Will Smith and Margot Robbie, and to marvel at whatever divine or evolutionary miracle concentrated so much charisma in the two of them. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Even if you're willing to forgive its sinkhole plotholes and farthest-fetched conceits, the film - from cowriters/co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa - ultimately makes no sense. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It does enough things right to earn a recommendation, but there are misfires aplenty for those who care to look for them. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: Smith and Robbie are terrific together. At various points along the way, he's playing her, and then she's playing him, and then we're almost positive they've let their collective guard down and they're really in love ... Or are they? Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: Co-stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie remain consistently charismatic, even once the script for this heist caper collapses in a punishing pile of its own twists and double-crosses. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: The two stars are dazzling distractions. Robbie is a wow and then some. The Aussie actress shows a comic flair backed up with beauty and steel. Even when Focus fumbles, Robbie deals a winning hand. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Smith and Robbie, both going through the motions, don't click at all, and Robbie in particular has nothing to play. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "Focus" is ridiculous in every detail. It's a movie with no truth, that teaches nothing and shows nothing, that has only its audacity to recommend it. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Decent but unremarkable ... the kind of movie you see with some pleasure but no dreams of sequels or remakes. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's yet another reminder that if it's not called "The Sting," you shouldn't get too comfortable with a con-game movie. Read more

Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic: Smith is vaguely world-weary as Nicky, and his charisma is more than sufficient to carry a goofy 100-minute caper film. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Drunk on its perfume-ad cinematography and doesn't know when to quit with its double-double cross plotting. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: We can't say we weren't warned. Will Smith has been telling us not to trust him the entire movie. Read more

James Rocchi, TheWrap: Like a perfect cocktail mixes the sour with the sweet and the bright with the boozy, "Focus" combines seamless, superbly-crafted filmmaking with the fizz and fun created by its leads. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: A predictably unpredictable tale of conmen and women complete with the industry-mandated quantity of fast cars, short skirts, sharp suits, slippery billionaires and "Oh, it was that guy all along!" plot twists. Read more

Jim Slotek, Toronto Sun: This stuff is pretty entertaining on its own, so much that if you just sit back and take it in, you may overlook the fact that the plot is full of holes. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: At times ... Focus resembles a commercial for a pricey brand of liquor, an elite hotel or a luxury car more than a story-driven movie. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: There's much to be said for a film that doesn't overreach, delivers on most of its promises and gets the audience out the door in just over an hour and a half. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The film itself comes to feel like a con, thanks to a script that's too clever by two-thirds, and butterfingered in the ways of portraying love. Read more