New Focus Movie Received Mixed Reviews From Major Critics
Warner Bros. Pictures released their new action/drama film, “Focus,” into theaters this weekend, and all the reviews are now in from the top,major critics. It turns out that we got a mixed bag of opinions with this one as it got an overall 56 score out of a possible 100 across 40 reviews at the Metacritic.com site.
The movie stars: Will Smith, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney and Margot Robbie. We’ve supplied some blurbs from a couple of the critics,below.
Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it a great 88 score, stating: “This is just sheer, escapist entertainment from start to finish.”
James Rocchi over at TheWrap, gave it a great 80 score, saying: “Like a perfect cocktail mixes the sour with the sweet and the bright with the boozy, Focus combines seamless, superbly-crafted filmmaking with the fizz and fun created by its leads.”
Christy Lemire from RogerEbert.com, gave it a 75 score, stating: “Co-stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie remain consistently charismatic, even once the script for this heist caper collapses in a punishing pile of its own twists and double-crosses.”
Chris Nashawaty from Entertainment Weekly gave it a great 75. He stated: “What keeps the film humming along as smoothly as it does is the chemistry and charisma of its leads.”
A.O. Scott over at The New York Times, gave it a 70 grade. He said: ” The preposterousness of the story doesn’t seem like a rip-off, since the twists in the plot, for the most part, pay off nicely.”
Betsy Sharkey over at the Los Angeles Times, gave it a 70 score, stating: “The film is breezy from start to finish.” Peter Debruge from Variety, gave it a 70 score. He said: “While not quite the “art” it’s billed to be, if the perfect con is about diverting one’s focus, then this one keeps you distracted till the end.”
Ty Burr from the Boston Globe, gave it a 63, saying: “There’s a terrific popcorn movie in Focus — a con-game romantic comedy that bubbles along on a playful high and that keeps the audience guessing in a state of delighted suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately, that movie is over after 40 minutes, and Focus still has another hour or so to go.”
Peter Travers over at Rolling Stone, gave it a 63 as well, stating: “I’m a sucker for caper movies in which impossibly clever con artists do impossibly dangerous things while looking impossibly gorgeous. I could feel Focus trying to be that caper. I’m not asking for nirvana, such as Hitchcock’s “Notorious” or David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” just a taste of sexy escapism. A taste is all you get in Focus, but it’ll do till the whole enchilada comes along.”
Claudia Puig from USA Today, gave it a 63 score. She stated: ” Focus never quite comes into clear view. It’s a muddled and twisting romantic caper that at times feels like Steven Soderbergh lite.”
Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune, gave it a 50 grade, saying: “Screen chemistry between two individuals isn’t really a pass/fail proposition. There are degrees involved. But let’s pretend otherwise and say yes, Smith and Robbie pass, barely, with less than flying colors and in a pretty dull movie.”
Todd McCarthy from The Hollywood Reporter, gave it a 50 score, stating: “This ultra-slick, fantasy-inducing visit to an international wonder world of wealth and deception plays more like an inventory of thieving and gambling techniques than a captivating diversion, even if it’s hard not to be voyeuristically pulled in by some of its ruses.”
Joe Morgenstern from the Wall Street Journal, gave it a 40 grade, stating: “Ms. Robbie, on the other hand, aces her role from the start; she’s got an unerring gift for romantic comedy. Still, the film itself comes to feel like a con, thanks to a script that’s too clever by two-thirds, and butterfingered in the ways of portraying love.”
Kyle Smith over at the New York Post, gave it a 25 grade, stating: “Preposterous, slipshod, unfunny and emotionally null.” Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle, gave it an awful 25 score. He stated: “The emotional core of the movie, the relationship between Nicky and Jess, lacks impact, mostly because you can’t believe a word that they say, but also because Smith is not a strong leading man.”
Finally, Joe Neumaier from the New York Daily News, gave a really bad 20 score, saying: “Will Smith may have run through every trick in his bag. In Focus, the one-time fresh prince and former box-office champ looks tired, bored and, even worse, uninspired.” Stay tuned. Also, get your favorite Movie stuff, and more by Clicking Here.
