REVIEW: ‘Mr. And Mrs. Smith’ Nails The Chemistry

Mr. And Mrs. Smith (2024) may immediately call up memories of the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt married couple with secret spy jobs movie. The Prime Video series takes everything down a different path. The Amazon Studios and New Regency produced series is created by Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane and stars Glover and Maya Erskine as the series titular leads. More focused on reimaginings of a familiar title than a reboot, the creators of the series know how to take the premise and up the stakes with action and romance.

Instead of already being married, Mr. And Mrs. Smith (2024) Season 1 opens with John and Jane Smith individually undergoing an evaluation. Once they have given their answers, Jane and John are matched together as partners in assassination and espionage. To everyone on the outside, they’re a married couple living in an idyllic Manhattan brownstone. But behind closed doors, the Smiths are assassin-skilled partners. Jane and John start off as two lonely strangers but let the job bring them together.

Working for a mysterious spy agency has its perks. A free house, a six-figure payment per job, and a bunch of state-of-the-art weaponry, too; there isn’t much that the Smiths want that the Agency can’t provide. They live a glorious life of espionage, rubbing elbows with the wealthy—maybe even flirting with a nosey neighbor too. All they have to do is settle into their arranged marriage and take a high-risk mission once a week. Both are up for the task.

The complexity of the two characters is revealed to the audience as it is revealed to each other. For John, his ability to enact violence is leveled against his deep connection to his mother. He loves her, cares for her, and ultimately is trying to do what he can to stay connected to her. Jane, on the other hand, has no problem cutting off her family and never seeing them again. She is aloof, alone, and attempting to thrive in that disconnection from others.

The more comedic of the two, Jane seemingly detaches from their assignments easier than John. This isn’t usually the personality given to female characters. But this doesn’t mean that she is cold. Instead, Jane reveals layers throughout the show. John, however, is an open book, both to the audience and to Jane.

As John and Jane begin to see each other as more than just partners, the danger intensifies. The couple are no longer strangers just looking for a paycheck. They begin to throw less caution to the wind and start worrying for each other instead of just themselves. Ultimately, the mission variety is fantastic, but the way John and Jane navigate them is fantastic. Who they are as a team at the start of the season is not who they are at the end. You can chart the subtle and then large changes in their relationship through their choices. This is thanks in large part to Glover and Erskine’s electric chemistry. At the same time, the payoff is set up by focusing on various situations, ranther than continuous or spontaneous action.

The series’s cameos are also something to write home about. Instead of overwhelming the series, the cameos in Mr. and Mrs. Smith are expertly added. From renowned character actors to heavy hitters, the series brings out a slew of talented guest stars that never feel like too much or out of place. Some of the most notable include Parker Posey, Ron Perlman, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Alexander Skarsgård, and Paul Dano.

Each of the characters introduced in the series opens up the world. While the Agency is shrouded in some secrecy, as the missions become more dangerous for our duo, we also see the bigger world. What are the repercussions when you fail a mission? Are there others in arranged marriages just like them? The series thoughtfully answers questions like that without losing the narrative or ever feeling like it’s providing too much exposition.

This is most clear when Wagner Moura and Parker Posey appear as another John and Jane Smith. After meeting at a farmer’s market, the double Smith couples have a night together. They talk shop, they bond, and the audience learns more about the Agency. Here, the kinds of work that each couple is tasked with doing are clarified. The show explains how much the jobs vary and just how large the network of Smiths is. The series opts to show us the larger network instead of bogging down the narrative pacing with mere dialogue exposition.

Mr. And Mrs. Smith does boast some large action moments. However, the fight choreography isn’t at the forefront of the show. Instead, it invests time in set pieces and situations more than the action itself. This allows the series to tackle action in its own way. This results in stark differences in tone and perspective. In one moment, you’re witnessing gun battles and harrowing situations happen, and the next, a rich baddie makes the leads bark like a dog on all fours.

That said, Mr. and Mrs. Smith can tonally shift too much in one episode and sometimes in one sequence. While this causes whiplash, the series always returns to its center. Which is riding the action-comedy line by leaning into macabre and off-color jokes that only assassins can make. In a series where some action set pieces can leave a lot to be desired, the series excels in its smallest scale moments. It can conquer more intimate moments and smaller action moments, helping Mr. and Mrs. Smith get high marks.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024) doesn’t land every swing it takes, but it’s better for having attempted them—which can’t be said for other comedy series. Even when some humor and plot points don’t connect, Glover and Erskine’s amazing chemistry is what makes it all work. Ultimately, the casting for its leads is superb. Their charismatic embrace of dark humor and partnership (both in missions and as lovers) is a stellar success. Isn’t that all a marriage action comedy needs?

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2024) is streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.