Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a 2005 action/comedy film, directed by Doug Liman and written by Simon Kinberg. The original music score was composed by John Powell.
The film stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a bored
married couple who learn that they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.
Cast
Plot
The action opens with John and Jane Smith, a couple who have been married for five or six
years, attending marriage counseling. There, they tell the story of their first
meeting in Bogotá, Colombia, where they met while both were
secretly on the run from Colombian authorities. They quickly fell in love and were married.
In reality, however, John and Jane are both skilled assassins working for different firms, each using the marriage as a cover
and concealing their true profession from their spouse. When both are assigned to kill a man named Benjamin Danz (AKA "The
Tank"), they encounter each other on the job and discover the truth. Both employers task one Smith to eliminate the other, and
each must choose between their personal and professional lives.
Unrated version
A two-disc, unrated version of the film was
released on DVD on June 6, 2006. On the original DVD version during
a commentary with the director, he mentions that
he was not able to use as much sex and violence as they had
originally filmed to meet the PG-13 rating. The
unrated version shows more sex and violence.
Differences between rated and unrated versions (in order of appearance)
• In the unrated version, the dance scene is extended with some sexual movements.
• In the rated version, Benjamin Danz receives his next assignment from Father (Jane's superior). This scene has been deleted
entirely from the unrated version. Danz is now introduced when John gets the contract from his superiors to take him out.
• In the unrated version, more of Jane and John's domestic life is more fleshed out. Scenes include (but aren't limited
to):
- John bringing home the wrong kind of butter for Jane, causing Jane to complain slightly before she bucks up and, says (in an
agitated fashion), "I'll make it work". This rolls in before the drapes comment.
- The dinner scene is now extended with John and Jane reading a book and a newspaper at the dinner table instead of
talking.
- John and Jane doing the dishes together after dinner. John breaks a plate on purpose (Jane thinks it's an accident) as if
he's attempting to show Jane that he's "flawed" and not perfect.
• Some dialogue has been changed in the poker-hit sequence. In the rated version, John stumbles while grabbing the cash he has
in his pocket, which provokes one of the poker players to show his gun to John. John says, "Whoa...that's cool, man." Afterward,
he shows his money and says "See?" a few times to everyone at the table. In the unrated version, John says to gunman, "Dude...I'm
just showin' you my bankroll, man," then follows with "You know what I'm sayin'?" instead of "see?"
• In the rated version, following the simultaneous "hits" by John and Jane, Jane is shown at home, changing back into her regular
clothing behind a screen when John walks in. They exchange lies about what they did when they "went out". The film then cuts to
John and Jane putting on phony "happy faces" and greeting their neighbors with joy. In the unrated version, the "lying" scene has
been deleted entirely and has been replaced with a shorter scene where Jane and John are heading up their neighbor's walkway to
go their party and are arguing about what they were doing when they "went out". Jane complains that John has "been drinking". It
then leads into the scene where the door opens and John and Jane pretend to be "happy".
• In the unrated version, another scene with John and Jane, in bed, lying to each other to cover for their covert operations has
been added.
• In the unrated version, there is more of a lead-up to the initial confrontation between John and Jane. John sits in the car and
thinks before putting on his wedding band and entering the house.
• In the rated version, after John breaks into Jane's building and Jane escapes, her and John exchange insults. John is shown
shouting, "chicken-shit" and Jane responds with, "pussy". In the unrated version, Jane is no longer shown actually saying the
word. Instead, we hear her say it off-screen with a full surprised reaction from John.
• In the unrated version, the shootout sequence between John and Jane, in their house, is slightly more extended.
• In the unrated version, the sex scene (after John and Jane's fist-fight) has been extended slightly. There is now implied
sexual penetration.
• In the rated version, Eddie wakes up to see that there's a bulletin for a $400,000 hit on John Smith and another $400,000 hit
on Jane Smith. In the unrated version, this scene has been deleted entirely.
• In the unrated version, in the van before the Smiths want to capture Danz and are comparing records, John adds the comment "are
you counting innocent bystanders?" removing some of the double-entendre from the previous conversation.
• In both the unrated and regular DVD versions, when the Smiths almost crash head on with a Bud Light truck while in the van, the scene where it cuts to a slow-motion version of the van
just narrowly missing the truck is gone.
• In the unrated version, the fight in the home improvement store is extended, featuring an ATV with
a chaingun mounted in the rear.
• In the rated version, the climactic gun battle/dance scene had a version of "Mondo Bongo" underscored by John Powell playing
behind it. In the unrated version, the scene no longer has music of any kind playing behind it. Instead, the explosions and
bullets and rockets are the only things heard and they're slightly more emphasized.
Reception
Less than four weeks after its release in Colombia, the General Secretary of the City Hall, Enrique Borda, sent a letter of
protest to the director Doug Liman. In the letter he states that "It is evidenced, beyond any doubt, that the director and his
production crew show a total level of ignorance by portraying (the city) as incipient (...), primitive, with scarce
hotel infrastructure, dominated by poverty, depressed, disorganized, with high levels of violence; in conclusion, totally chaotic
and not attractive at all". Borda also points out in his text that Bogotá was awarded with the title of "City of Peace" by
the Unión de Ciudades Capitales Iberoamericanas (UCCI) and was declared "World Book Capital 2007" by UNESCO. Also, Bogotá is actually cold, not as portrayed in the film, where it is shown as a tropical city. The
temperature in Bogotá rarely rises above 18° Celsius (64° Fahrenheit). [1]
Music
-
Two soundtrack albums were released from the film - a film score composed by John Powell
and a soundtrack with songs used in the film. The albums were released at different times to avoid confusion, the former was
released on June 28 and the later on June 7, 2005.
Trivia
- The role of Mrs. Smith was actually offered to Indian actress Aishwarya Rai but she
refused it due to filming conflicts. The role was eventually done by Angelina Jolie.
- Bogotá, Colombia, is shown to be a steamy, tropical locale,
when in actuality the city lies in an intermontane valley 8,000 feet above sea level. Temperatures steadily stay within the range
of 50-68 degrees Fahrenheit year-around.
- Many of the scenes from the trailer were not in the movie, including Brad Pitt riding a bike while shooting, a bunch of
gunned men jumping out of the back of an Ashley Furniture truck, and
Keith David ordering someone to "bring in everyone," after finding out "it's the Smiths".
- While Benjamin is being held captive, he is wearing a Fight Club
t-shirt, a reference to a previous film starring Brad Pitt.
- When John and Jane are revealing their true identities, John mentions he was the one to assassinate Jean Luc Gaspard. This
character is taken from the film Ocean's Twelve.
- In the scene where Eddie (Vince Vaughn) is paranoid about being found in his mother's house he says to his mother: "I almost
shot you! You don't even realize!". A line very similar to this is spoken in another Vince Vaughn film, Wedding Crashers by Chazz (Will Ferrell) who says: "I almost nunchucked you! You don't even
realize."
- The novelization of this film includes joking references to Mrs. Smith looking like some glamorous movie star (an allusion to
Angelina Jolie), while Mr. Smith is said to resemble Brad Pitt.
- In the scene where Eddie receives two $400,000 bulletins for John and Jane Smith, it shows Brad and Angelina's real
birthdays, height, weight, hair color, etc.[citation needed]
- During the aerial shot of the "HomeMade" store where the Smiths had the shootout, a "Kost Mart" can be seen next to it. "Kost
Mart" was the name of one of the parody Costco and Wal-Mart
that Dick applies for a job for in Fun with Dick and
Jane.
- The music played during the end credits of the movie is actually the last 42 seconds of the music "'Assassin's Tango'"
followed by the song "'The Next Adventure'". Both songs were written by John Powell.
- The video for Busta Rhymes song "I Love My
Bitch" is based on the film.
- When they are in the stolen car, the song "Making Love out of Nothing
at All" by Air Supply is played on its radio.
- The surname "Smith" is very common in the West. Also, the first names "John" and "Jane" are
placeholder names, which are also given to unidentified bodies [by law enforcement agencies]. See Jane
Doe and John Doe.
- In the scene where John is trying to catch up with Jane on foot while she drives through the street in the Mercedes Benz estate, Brad's tripping over the fence was an accident and was left in the final cut because
of its fitting comedy.
- Family Guy is using the movie poster as a promotional ad for the upcoming episode
Stewie Kills Lois.
Television series
In January 2006, ABC announced that a television series was being
produced based upon the movie. Writer Simon Kinberg and director Doug Liman were reunited to bring the hit to the small screen.
Though Jolie and Pitt won't return for this version it was said that a "nation wide talent search" would be taking place to find
the next duo. The show was officially ordered to pilot. Actress Jordana Brewster had
signed on to play Mrs. Smith.[1]
At the ABC network's upfront presentation on May 15th 2007 it was revealed that the pilot was not ordered to series. It is not
on ABC's fall schedule.
According to {The Hollywood Reporter}, Regency TV is shopping its "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" pilot that failed to make it onto
ABC's schedule.
The trade paper says that Regency and production partner Dutch Oven had a contract stipulation that if "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"
wasn't picked up, it would receive an early release. Thus, other networks will get the opportunity to see "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"
as early as next week to decide if ABC made the correct decision.
If it were to find a new network home, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" will retain its main creative components -- Simon Kinberg and
Doug Liman, who wrote and directed both the pilot and the film -- as well as its stars, Jordana Brewster and Martin Henderson,
who had the unenviable task of filling in for feature leads Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
Like the movie, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" focused on married assassins-for-hire. The pilot was rumored to be one of the spring's
most costly.
Rootkit warning
The German DVD release of Mr. & Mrs. Smith has been reported to contain a rootkit named
Alpha-DVD by the company Settec. There have been no reports of this rootkit being a part of the American release of this DVD.
This rootkit news was reported at:
A later release keeps the rootkit, but features a warning on the sleeve, with instructions how to play the DVD on a PC without
an installation.
References
- ^ ABC's "Smith" sets sights on Brewster, Yahoo!, February 1, 2007
External links
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