Review: 'Focus' (2015)

Warner Bros.

It’s ironic that a film titled Focus fails to do just that. Sure, Focus features a few entertaining scenes and can never be categorized as terrible in really any moment of its running time but to call it a complete movie would not be fair. These moments of entertainment, while enjoyable, keep the story from ever being all that clear or important. As the characters in the film are constantly conning someone or each, Focus ultimately wants the biggest con to be on the audience, the problem is that, with all the twist and turns it tries to pull, it never pin points what it wants us to take away from it all.

There is nothing quick about Focus’s set up, as it is essentially the first half of the film. Because of this, the film features two stories that have little to do with each other, as if the audience is watching two episodes of a television program. The first episode or the first story, the pilot episode so to speak, not just introduces the characters and the world they inhabit but features a story in itself all while setting the future up.        

Focus begins with Nicky (Will Smith) and Jess (Margot Robbie) meeting through a con Jess is attempting on Nicky. Little does she know that Nicky, coming from generations of conmen, is a veteran conmen himself so he has no trouble sniffing out what she is trying to pull. He does however offer to give her a few tips on how to take from people without them knowing. She wants to be a part of something bigger though, so after an audition of sorts, Nicky and his partner Horst (Brennan Brown) agree add her to their crew of thieves in New Orleans for a major football championship.

The week leading up to game is when this group cons the large crowd of people, whether it be at casinos or even ATM’s. On the streets is where the pick pocketing techniques are performed, feeling repetitive as it is featured in a couple of previous scenes where Nicky and Jess are doing similar things. In fact, the film in general is quite repetitive in terms of dialogue and scene construction.

Focus’s set-up filled first half is also where we meet Farhad (Adrian Martinez). Referred to as a “400 pound Persian” at one point, the character Farhad, only really featured in the first half, is solely here for comic relief as his crude and uncomfortably sexual humor is aided by Martinez’s delivery and timing. He does however play a crucial part in a gambling scenario during the football game when Nicky has 1.2 million in a bet with a wealthy man by the name of Liyuan played by a delightfully over the top BD Wong.

This scenario, still apart of the films set-up, is basically a separate story before the films actual plot takes place, as it has absolutely nothing to do with what is to come. Even so, it is easily the most entertaining sequence of the film. It’s really the films only earned moment as the audience is led to believe with previous situations and moments that Nicky has a gambling problem so when he can’t walk away from a bet, the audience is forced to feel something towards the character and the moment.

One problem with this lead up, although entertaining and well-constructed, is that after it is revealed that Nicky really doesn’t have a gambling problem, the previous scenes that make the audience believe that Nicky has a gambling problem are somewhat discredited. Does he or does he not have a gambling problem? The film makes it appear that he does and he doesn’t? Maybe this is just me looking into in to it too much but the way this is handled is slightly puzzling. None the less, it’s still difficult not to find joy in this scene, with Smith, Robbie, Martinez and Wong all having a lot to do with that.

After all the this, the set-up abruptly closes with Nicky making it clear to Jess that they can’t get involved even though up to that moment, it appeared that they had started a relationship. Fast forwarding 3 years is where the actual films plot begins. Here we find Nicky in Buenos Aires working a con for racing team owner Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro) that involves him posing as engineer for a rival team owner by the name of McEwen (Robert Taylor) in order to cause them to lose races.

With this basic premise as a foundation, the second half of the film is about Nicky and Jess’s relationship after it is revealed that Jess is with Rafael. This is where everything slowly goes downhill. This focus on the relationship, as both are playing each other, becomes very repetitive, slowing the film down. We get it, you want to be with each other but you can’t express this because of the cons you are a part of. There is no reason to remind the audience of this with similar scene after scene. On top of this, it’s all taken a little too serious. It is made out to be this complex, engaging romance but just turns out to be a bore most of the time, leading me to believe that the second half should of kept the comedic approach that the set-up had, likely making for a more appropriate and enjoyable atmosphere.   

When it comes time to wrap the weak plot and over played romantic storyline up, Focus franticly tries to twist and turn its way to a fitting finale. In its final 10 minutes, the twist and turns are piled thick that not even it knows what it wants to be, causing for a sloppy, anti-climatic finale.

With all this said though, because Focus is a tale of two stories, the plot that is the set-up has a sleek, comedic way to it with actors being allowed to go over the top a bit to have fun with a light-hearted script, making it hard not to enjoy. Unfortunately, Focus becomes blurred with a nearly non-existent, sloppy plot and a weak romantic aspect, which makes it hard to remember what the first half had to offer.

Grade: C-