Mr. & Mrs. Smith

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Pop. Corn.

And if that's your snack, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" fills the bowl.

I hadn't seen this one in theaters, and didn't know what to expect because critics have been either particularly brutal in their denouncing it as the worst sort of pap or they've given it high marks for entertainment value. All agree that it's not a great film, or even a really really good one by film studies standards. But as popcorn movies go? As high-concept Hollywood blockbusters go? As today's star vehicles go? I'd have to agree with those who thought it pretty darned entertaining, since it satisfies all the requirements of a good popcorn movie.

1) The people on the screen have to be good to look at. Check. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who became an item as a result of the film, were named two of the planet's most beautiful people by (who else?) People magazine. They're easy on the eyes and fun to watch, especially when they engage in a marital tangle/tango that involves automatic weapons and martial arts maneuvers--even in the bedroom.

2) There has to be plenty of action. Again, check. Whether it's a big stunt, like Jolie lowering herself secret-agent style from a high-rise building using a sophisticated version of those retractable doggie leashes, or the shoot-'em-up sequences, or the explosions, there's enough action to more than balance the romantic stuff, and all of it is filmed with multiple angles and decent special effects.

3) The pacing has to be crisp. And except for a more leisurely first act, it is. Though the film runs a full two hours, it plays like a rock concert, with mostly rockin' songs and a few quiet ones that allow the performers to catch their breath before launching into another frenetic sequence. Director Doug Liman ("The Bourne Identity") keeps this moving nicely,

4) If there's a male and female, there has to be sparks. Ummm, helloo--Brangelina? Opposites attract, and in this case you get a professional killer (Pitt) who's this-side-of-Margaritaville casual, and who works for a low-tech, small, informal organization. Opposite him is another professional killer (Jolie) who's a little more sophisticated, and whose organization makes Mr. Smith's look like a milk-money protection racket. But have them paid to whack the same person in Bogata, Columbia, and have them pair up in order to avoid suspicion when they're told that soldiers are investigating all foreigners traveling alone, and you get the beginning of a a beautiful-people relationship and a romantic roller-coaster ride. All couples have at least one secret, but these two? How two killers are able to keep their professional identities from the other is beyond my comprehension. Aren't they supposed to have skills, like a highly developed intuition?

But hey, the fifth requirement isn't total logic for a popcorn movie--it's that the plot be just logical enough that audiences can appreciate requirements one through four. And again, I think that's the case here. Simon Kinberg's script isn't a font of clever dialogue, but it's better than he produced for "xXx: State of the Union." Five or six years later (as we learn at the outset, watching the couple in marriage counseling) Mr. & Mrs. Smith have drifted apart, quickly going from almost violently ripping each other's clothes off to not even remembering what sex feels like. They've been leading secret lives, and thinking the other one pretty boring by comparison. The turning point (and the twist) comes when they're given another coincidental assignment: to a guy named Benjamin Danz (Adam Brody). Then, ironically, they get turned on to each other again as the sparks (and the bullets) fly once more. Who whacks whom? How far do they take their competition? Do they find a way out? As John J. Puccio pointed out in his DVD review, you get a light romantic comedy, a heavy-handed screwball comedy, and an action film--three for the price of one. But I wasn't bothered by the way these genres fit into the same box, as John was. I thought that the comedy added to the stylishness.

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