The Hindu Business Line : How to survive marriage and not kill your spouse

Everybody loves a marriage, particularly one that is smart to behold and capable of such dialogue. First, there was the cool, competitive individual, now there are the cool, competitive couples. And, as they increasingly do these days, you haven't arrived till you hard sell that image all the way to society's museums.

What better plot to showcase such a couple than a pair of assassins for husband and wife chasing each other as target. Shoot, kick and hit each other. In short, fight to kill but stop short of pulling the trigger because like all normal couples they love each other. If they had actually finished their task on any of the several opportunities they got, Mr & Mrs Smith would have spared us attitude and agony.

One of Mrs Smith's associates does remind her, "you don't love him, you will kill him and nobody is better at that than you."

Relief stays elusive possibly because it would be a shame if the couple is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and the film ended 10-minutes-old in one well-placed gunshot.

Hence, the studio's story - "John and Jane Smith are an ordinary suburban couple with an ordinary, lifeless marriage. But each is hiding something the other would kill to know: Mr and Mrs Smith are actually highly paid, incredibly efficient assassins and they work for competing organisations.

"Mr and Mrs Smith discover a new source of excitement in their marriage, when they're hired to assassinate each other. The result is the ultimate action spectacle, as Mr and Mrs Smith put their formidable skills to work and their marriage to the ultimate test."

It survives long enough to provide fuel for anyone competitive with a cool marriage as aspiration.

Quite frankly, the film's story, including the latter half when the pair team up to fight others and not themselves, hardly matters. It runs totally on the star value of the main actors (everything from frame to smart dialogue caters to that), both of whom command considerable following.

Plus, there is a faint hint of comedy in the form of periodic style-enhancing quips. Fun film, if your idea of life is cool, cooler, coolest. Forgettable, if you respect your grey cells. Or care for acting.

Mr & Mrs Smith is slated for release on Friday.

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How to survive marriage and not kill your spouse