High tech toys for girls and boys

Acting as an amalgam of "Prizzi's Honor," "The War of the Roses" and "True Lies," Doug Liman's latest film "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" may not be seen as the sexy, witty action/comedy it indeed is but rather as a possible piece of insight into the tabloid-touted relationship between its striking stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. It's an unfortunate bit of business really as this is one firecracker of a flick.\nPitt and Jolie headline as the titular twosome John and Jane Smith. Currently their marriage of "five or six years" (depending on whom you ask) has hit the skids amid suburban boredom. He's a "construction contractor" with little time for wedlock; she's a "software engineer" with a Martha Stewart streak. To quell their marital woes the two seek marriage counseling. Shortly thereafter skeletons surface from either party's closet. Both are professional assassins working for competing agencies assigned to the same target (Adam Brody of "The O.C.," doing a government spook variation on Seth Cohen). In outing each others' secret identities John and Jane must decide whether to off their better half or team together to take down their employers. Explosions, fist fights, car chases (in a minivan of all things) and shotgun skirmishes parry with comically confessional dialogue, marriage metaphors and slams on suburbia (a Wal-Mart proxy serves as the setting for the concluding shootout).\nThe script for "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was the master's thesis of Simon Kinberg during his stint at Columbia University. Despite being written long before Kinberg's other produced screenplay (the horrendous "xXx: State of the Union"), his work is leaps and bounds better here. That's not to say it doesn't have its problems -- it does. Plotting often takes a backseat to action set pieces and jokey one-upsmanship between Pitt and Jolie, though Kinberg gets the tone right ... thankfully. \nThe material is perfectly suited to Liman's strengths. Beginning his career with independent comedies ("Swingers" and "Go") prior to moving into summer movie mayhem three years ago with "The Bourne Identity," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is a breezy hodgepodge of both styles. Had any other director made this movie it probably would've been a mess. The same can be said of its stars. Pitt harnesses much of the lackadaisical wiseass shtick he employed in "Ocean's Eleven" and that film's sequel -- only he eats a lot less. Jolie, playing a role originally offered to Nicole Kidman, is saner (playing a hatchet woman of all things) and sexier here than she's ever been onscreen, finally becoming the action heroine she couldn't properly be in the terrible "Tomb Raider." Adding fuel to the funny fire is Vince Vaughn as John's mama's boy best bud and fellow death dealer. I couldn't watch his performance without thinking of the immortal "Anchorman" line: "Dorothy Mantooth is a saint!"\nWhether Pitt and Jolie have chemistry in real life is no one's business but theirs and maybe Jennifer Aniston's, but I can assure you it's palpable in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." As such the movie should be seen for what it is: two hours of entertainment provided by two people far better looking than any of us.