Focus (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

3 nominations.

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:

older man younger woman relationship | con artist | interracial relationship | con man | deception | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michelle Williams, Jessica Biel, Rose Byrne, and Olivia Munn were considered to replace Kristen Stewart, before the role went to Margot Robbie.

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Goofs

Between the $50,000 and $100,000 bets at the "Super Bowl", despite it being portrayed as happening almost immediately, not only has possession gone from the Thrashers to the Rhinos but, apparently, a new quarter has started because the teams have switched field directions.

This is not a goof, because it's not portrayed as happening almost immediately. There's a time-compressing cut in scenes, since the main characters have also suddenly changed position, from the field-facing rows of seats to the lounge area behind the rows of seats. Furthermore, all people in the skybox have now shifted their focus from the football match to the bets between Nicky and Liyuan. These things all indicate that it has taken Liyuan's assistants some time to bring the suitcase with money, which the movie simply skips over.

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Quotes

Nicky: [after Jess passes Horst's test] You're in!
Jess: [excited & giggly] Really?
Horst: [stern & no nonsense] Congratulations, you're a criminal.

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Margot Robbie/Michael McKean/Kevin Delaney (2016)

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Soundtracks

Chorra
Written by Enrique Santos Discépolo
Performed by Los Mareados
Courtesy of Bizarro Records

User Reviews

Brilliant con artist movie blended with flawed romantic comedy

"Focus" blends two different movies in roughly equal measure. One is a movie about con men, scam artists and hustlers, in the tradition of "The Sting," "Ocean's Eleven," "House of Games" and "Shade." The second movie is a romantic comedy between two people who are strongly attracted to one another, but who cannot and do not trust each other.

The movie about con men is brilliant. The hustles and scams are clever and cleverly executed with excellent skill and tradecraft. Dramatically, the double-blinds and double- crosses are well executed. The players con their marks, one another and the audience with finesse and aplomb. The cinematography, choreography and editing are crisp. The reveals are plausible within the film's cosmos of reality.

The romantic comedy is not bad. One can understand and believe the attraction between the two characters. Will Smith's character is hunky, clever, confident, successful and wealthy. Margot Robbie's character is gorgeous, sexy, vulnerable, clever and charming. But the major plot points in this boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back subplot seem contrived, while the intriguing aspect of their relationship (How can two con artists with a history of deceiving one another learn to trust one another?) isn't explored in a satisfactory manner. Instead we get a breakup for reasons that are never explained, a repeated gag involving a wallet, and a massive coincidence that leads the audience to believe one of them has a hidden agenda involving the other. The relationship between them works best when they are conning one another, but it needs resolution.

Technically, the film is beautifully done. Cinematography, locations, wardrobe, make-up, editing, audio -- everything is polished. It's a movie that merits a second or third viewing, not only to see the cons played out, but also to appreciate some of the subtle foreshadowing.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Argentina

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

27 February 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Focus

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,100,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,685,137, 1 March 2015

Gross USA:

$53,862,963

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$158,762,963

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