Review: Smith, Robbie Pour On The Charm In Sharp 'focus'

If the mark of a good con artist is that he or she makes you think you know exactly what's going on — when of course you haven't a clue — that's also the mark of a good con-artist movie, isn't it? A con-artist movie has to make you find something sympathetic about the artist himself. [...] here, the film centers on a romance, so we need to be able to invest in that as well. Luckily, Smith and relative newcomer Margot Robbie ("The Wolf of Wall Street") generate believable heat together while also appealing to us individually, and so we care what happens to them — even as we keep changing our minds as to which one we should care about most. In an extended street pickpocketing sequence, she shows herself to have not just ambition and gumption, but also real talent. The film's second act jumps ahead three years and takes us to lovely Buenos Aires, where Nicky, having long ago lost track of Jess, is setting up his latest operation. Despite the suspicions of Garriga's heavily sarcastic henchman, Owens (an amusing Gerald McRaney), all begins according to plan, until Jess suddenly appears out of nowhere, walking down a staircase in a killer red dress and matching lips. Focus," a Warner Bros.