Focus (II) (2015)

In the midst of veteran con man Nicky's latest scheme, a woman from his past - now an accomplished femme fatale - shows up and throws his plans for a loop.

Directors:

Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Writers:

Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Stars:

Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Will Smith	...	Nicky
Margot Robbie	...	Jess
Adrian Martinez	...	Farhad
Gerald McRaney	...	Owens
Rodrigo Santoro	...	Garriga
BD Wong	...	Liyuan
Brennan Brown	...	Horst
Robert Taylor	...	McEwen
Dotan Bonen	...	Gordon
Griff Furst	...	Gareth
Stephanie Honoré	...	Janice
David Stanford	...	Drunken Stranger
Dominic Fumusa	...	Jared
Steve Kim	...	Liyuan’s Bodyguard
Don Yesso	...	Card Player / Football Coach

Storyline

Nicky Spurgeon is an extremely accomplished con man who takes an amateur con artist, Jess, under his wing. Nicky and Jess become romantically involved, and with Nicky's profession of being a liar and a cheater for a living, he realizes that deception and love are things that don't go together. They split, only to see each other three years later... And things get messy.

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Plot Keywords:

con artist | deception | racing car | interracial relationship | con man | 

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Taglines:

Never lose focus

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Argentina

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 February 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fokus

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$18,685,137 (USA) (27 February 2015)

Gross:

$53,846,915 (USA) (1 May 2015)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kramer & Sigman Films, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Zaftig Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While the football game is set at the New Orleans Superdome, and past Super Bowls are noted on the side of the stadium, the characters never use the name "Super Bowl", and the game is played by two fictional teams.

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Goofs

The stake in "double or quits", as used in the superbowl scene, should not be twice the previous stake, it's the same as the previous stake. Being $X down, another stake of $X will leave you either $2X down on loss (double), or $0 down on victory (quits). Were the new stake to be twice, you'd end up either $3X down, or $X up. Both characters are inveterate gamblers, so shouldn't muddle their terminology so.

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Quotes

Jess: [suddenly sitting at his table] Will you be my boyfriend? Just for a minute. You're not a serial killer, are you?
Nicky: That depends. How many times does it take to get to "serial"?
Jess: Five.
Nicky: Oh, no, we're good.

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Connections

Featured in Film 2015: Episode #44.7 (2015)

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Soundtracks

Buck It Like A Horse
Written by Corey Henry
Performed by Lil Rascals Brass Band (as Lil' Rascals Brass Band)
Courtesy of Mardi Gras Records, Inc.

User Reviews

Well centered but unintelligent in approach

The title "Focus" had potential among the quantitatively declining Con- Artist genre. Although brilliantly centered and set up with a decent cast and setting - the execution of intelligent criminal activity was poor and often justifying or explaining trickery and illusion as "he's just so good at it." - failing to satisfy the audience with an insight into the brilliance that is a con-centered plan.

I love heist movies. I love intricate con movies. I love crime movies and I'm sad to say this doesn't really come close to fitting anywhere between those genres best and brightest. Instead you're left feeling slightly amused, slightly tired, slightly relieved that it's over but kind of happy you saw it anyway - I dread to think how badly this movie would have been were it not for will smith.