Will Smith stars as Nicky, a con artist so good that everyone knows who he is. I'm not sure how that works. Margot Robbie is Jess, an amateur Nicky takes under his wing and then abandons after their first big heist. The two cross paths again three years later, only this time Jess is as adept at the game as Nicky. Sparks fly.
"Focus" was marketed as a movie about two con artists, but that's misleading. The movie is Smith's show. He plays a darker version of his previous character Hitch, except instead of teaching men how to play women, he teaches men and women how to play anybody. And teach he does! There are several montage sequences in "Focus" narrated by Smith, with his supremely confident schtick. Robbie, to her credit, puts on a stellar performance as Jess, but the character never rises to the same level of importance as Smith. She looks good in dresses and bikinis, but Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's script consistently pulls the rug out from under her agency in the plot. Robbie and Smith have fantastic chemistry; unfortunately, that's all they're ultimately allowed to have.
Outside of star chemistry, "Focus" has little to offer. There are a lot of lame one-liners, hollow supporting characters and ill-defined stakes. Over half the movie is set in the past, setting up the Nicky/Jess relationship; so much so that we only really see them compete in the last act of the movie, which is problematically burdened by setting up an entirely different conflict for them to muddle up. It feels like "Focus" contains two separate movies, neither of which is particularly great.
If you're a fan of Will Smith and his classic character, "Focus" is probably worth watching. Otherwise, there are better things to rent this weekend.