‘Mr. And Mrs. Smith’ (2024) Review – Bland And Loveless

Remember that spy movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith from 2005? No? Well, it was a middle-of-the-road action movie that is only remembered briefly for its on and off-screen romance between its stars Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie. This was controversial because Pitt was dating good girl Jennifer Aniston at the time. Almost twenty years later, the brand is brought back by way of a Prime Video television series. Why? Maybe it is to keep the IP. This would explain why this series feels so rushed and uninspired. The show follows John Smith (Donald Glover) and Jane Smith (Maya Erskine), two random people matched and married through a spy agency. Through a mysterious messaging service, the couple starts taking on missions and living together as a married couple. Jane sets boundaries right away, yet as they go through tough missions together, the pair bond. Ultimately, love blooms for a while, until all hell breaks loose in this weak re-imagining. 

Nobody was asking for a Mr. and Mrs. Smith series, yet we got one anyway. However, this comes with some interesting challenges. With movie series like John Wick being mega-popular, why not try and add some flare and intrigue to an IP that’s, let’s face it, not that beloved? It’s a strange property to gamble on, but with the right kind of worldbuilding, it could work. Alas, this show is even more bland and flavorless than you might think.

The biggest thing that is broken with this series is how John and Jane are written. The pair start as blank slates, and as the series goes on, we get mere glimpses into their inner lives – but nothing that could be remotely interesting or noteworthy. Sure, Donald Glover thrives as Michael aka John Smith, but his charm can only carry this series so far. It boils down to the fact that both he and Maya Erskine are done dirty by an underdeveloped plot. The missions are very by-the-number, and it is nothing you haven’t seen a million times before. More baffling is the fact that there is no big bad enemy that keeps John and Jane on their toes throughout the season. A connective tissue like an overarching threat could have gone a long way to bring everything together. What we get instead is a collection of action bits, with underbaked drama that is meant to tie it all together. Making it worse is the fact that the chemistry between Jane and John is utterly missing here. Both actors try hard to sell this romance but frankly, it’s tough to swallow.

This might have been alright had it not been for the worldbuilding, or lack thereof. For example, the agency that the Smiths work for is not defined in the least. Forget about a cool network of agents that add background texture or shadowy figures to provide any tension. Nope. None of that. What we get is instant messages from a presence known only as Hih (yes, really) that detail their missions.

The episode Double Date is probably the biggest offender to the weak storytelling. Whilst out and about John meets another person with the last name Smith (because I guess only people with the last name of Smith are agents). They clunkily establish that they aren’t the only spy couple in the area. Keep in mind, these are other spies, so what do the Smiths do? Why, they invite them over, and give them a tour of their house and their safe room. Then they spend the night drinking and sharing seemingly classified mission details. After a night of getting drunk and doing drugs, the older Smith couple invites the younger couple to swap out a mission for them. Like what the actual hell? All these huge breaches are never brought up again, meaning there seem to be no consequences to what agents do. Not to mention keeping a low profile is not the game here, as Jane and John are always in public firefights.

Nobody is asking for realism from their comedy series, but this is ridiculous. The writers don’t care about making this feel like a fleshed-out and interesting world, so why should we care? The answer is you don’t care, your eyes glaze over and you just become baffled by how money was spent on this nothing-burger.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith is loveless, limp, and offers nothing to an already bland IP.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith will premiere on Prime Video on February 2, 2024. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsaMWxppznk]