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Mr. and Mrs. Smith poster

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

year 2005decade 00sdirector Doug Liman

120 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Brad Pitt John Smith
Angelina Jolie Jane Smith
Vince Vaughn Eddie
Adam Brody Benjamin Danz
Keith David Father
Chris Weitz Martin Coleman
Rachael Huntley Suzy Coleman
Elijah Alexander Marco Racin
Theresa Barrera Janet - Associate #3
Simon Kinberg Investment Banker #1

Mr. and Mrs. Smith | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Amanda Dobbins theme Wait, This Movie Made HOW Much Money? Month
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Producer credits not yet identified.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Budget and gross; knife skills; expanded Vaughn role; therapy premise; Bogotá objections; Fight Club shirt; reused helicopter shot; 50 drafts; TV pilot and sequel ideas

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:49Read transcript
  • The stated budget is $110 million, possibly more, against a $487 million gross.
  • Jolie reportedly brought knife skills and her own collection to the production.
  • Vaughn’s Eddie reportedly expanded from a cameo-sized part.
  • Kinberg reportedly developed the premise after friends described marriage therapy as aggressive and mercenary.
  • Colombians and their president reportedly objected to the film’s depiction of the country.
  • Brody wears a Fight Club T-shirt during the interrogation.
  • A helicopter shot over Bogotá was taken from Clear and Present Danger and modified with CGI.
  • The script reportedly went through 50 drafts, with writers including Terence Winter, Akiva Goldsman, and Carrie Fisher.
  • A 2007 ABC pilot written by Kinberg and directed by Liman starred Jordana Brewster and Martin Henderson; it was pitched as Married with Children with guns and was not picked up.
  • Subsequent sequel ideas are described as eventually becoming Keeping Up with the Joneses, with uncertainty about whether Pitt and Jolie would have participated.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:31Read transcript
  • Ebert gave the film three stars, valuing the stars’ chemistry over plot mechanics and objecting to celebrity gossip displacing discussion of movies.

Casting What-Ifs

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:09:48Read transcript
  • Pitt and Nicole Kidman were originally cast; after Kidman left and Pitt dropped out, Depp and Will Smith were approached.
  • Reported possibilities include Depp with Cate Blanchett and Will Smith with Catherine Zeta-Jones; Gwen Stefani says she came close.
  • Liman reportedly wanted Gwyneth Paltrow because she and Pitt were exes; the idea of exploiting that baggage is criticized.
  • Liman ultimately described using Pitt and Paltrow’s past as too much manipulation; Blanchett was unavailable because of The Aviator.

Recasting Couch

Dave Chappelle for Vaughn; Owen Wilson and Bradley Cooper alternatives

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:15:41Read transcript
  • For Vaughn’s role at the time, Owen Wilson and 2005 Bradley Cooper are considered, with Cooper bringing an angrier edge; Byron Mayo is jokingly floated.
  • Dave Chappelle becomes the preferred replacement for Vaughn.
  • Ghosted’s Chris Evans and Ana de Armas are offered as a modern comparison but dismissed as lacking chemistry; Anyone but You inspires more anticipation. Tom Holland and Zendaya are floated as the biggest current couple, followed by a joking on-set breakup scenario.

Picking Nits

Missed bullets; Bogotá climate; unclear agencies; urinating stance; undiscovered marriage; meal deliveries; low bounties; secret weapons installations

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:28Read transcript
  • The couple avoids every bullet despite scores of attackers in the final store battle.
  • The hot, tropical-looking Bogotá hotel conflicts with the city’s altitude and climate.
  • Brief remnants of the deleted bosses’ storyline leave the agencies, assignments, and moral stakes underexplained.
  • Jane identifying John from his urinating stance is questioned, with the leg kick offered as the identifying detail.
  • The agencies discovering the marriage only after six years strains belief; deep cover is suggested but questioned given the couple’s ordinary social life.
  • The I-Team’s nightly meal deliveries supposedly never crossed paths with John coming home at seven.
  • The $400,000 bounty per person seems low relative to the destruction and the couple’s expensive lifestyle.
  • Both spouses secretly building separate weapons storage into the house seems implausible, though it works as a metaphor for marital noncommunication.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Weapons-stove installation; unequal agency resources

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:25Read transcript
  • Who can install a weapons stove, how complicated is the work, and how much would it cost?
  • The contrast between Jane’s skyscraper team and John’s shabby garage raises the question of agency status; her greater kill count and resources support her being the more successful assassin.