First Trailer for FOCUS

What happened to Will Smith after 2008's Seven Pounds will likely always remain a mystery to me. The guy was on such a roll having more than made up for Men in Black II and Wild Wild West with Ali, I, Robot, Hitch, The Pursuit of Happyness, I am Legend and hell, even Bad Boys II which I think everyone can agree is everyone's favorite guilty pleasure. Ever. Though that 2008 weeper put him in a bad standing with critics for the first time in some time he seemed to take it harder than necessary retreating to the safe haven of the Men In Black movies four years later only to follow it up with the truly laughable After Earth. Truth is, the guy could have gone on making movies like Hancock every summer and no one would have thought any worse of him, well, they would have at least thought better of him than what has become of his career at this point (we won't even bring up the odd cameo in Winter's Tale). All of that said, hopefully we are now settling in for what is the third phase of Mr. Smith's career in which he strays from the science fiction, plays up his charms and likely wins an Oscar in about fifteen years. These cycles seem to go in eight year counts, so if we begin next year we will have a presumably good run with Smith until 2022 when he is 54 years-old. He'll take a break for a while, come back big with a showy role in an Academy friendly drama and earn that place and validation among his peers he has always craved. All of that is to say I really want to have confidence in Focus as I'm counting on it to be the original property that gives Smith's career the jump start it severely requires. Focus is directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy Stupid Love) and also stars Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro and Gerald McRaney. The film opens on February 27, 2015.



Synopsis: Will Smith stars as Nicky, a seasoned master of misdirection who becomes romantically involved with novice con artist Jess (Margot Robbie). As he’s teaching her the tricks of the trade, she gets too close for comfort and he abruptly breaks it off. Three years later, the former flame—now an accomplished femme fatale—shows up in Buenos Aires in the middle of the high stakes racecar circuit. In the midst of Nicky’s latest, very dangerous scheme, she throws his plans for a loop…and the consummate con man off his game.