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This review was originally published on February 2, 2024.Mr.
& Mrs. Smithhas since received 16nominations for the 2024 Emmy Awards.
Read all of Vultures Emmy-racecoveragehere.
In the2005 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movieMr.
& Mrs. Smith, two married spies discover theyve been assigned to kill each other.
Espionage and all the accompanying machinery sit on the surface this is a movie about upper-middle-class marriage.
The fight scenes are sex metaphors and then, pretty swiftly, just sex.
They rediscover each other; they literally obliterate the aspirational McMansion trapping them in conformity.
Amazon Primes new remake series,Mr.
But in 2024, the landscape for two hot up-and-coming go-getter spies looks a little different.
Here, emotional connection and living authentically are luxuries the Smiths dont even think to want.
(They call their employerhihiafter the way theyre greeted via text.)
& Mrs. Smithis not designed with the propulsive, ever-heightening momentum of an action movie.
What emotional vulnerability have they finally revealed?
Their assignment is to pretend theyre married, but at some point play-acting turns into real feelings.
Whether they can manage to be honest with one another is an open question.
What they want is regularity, security, and comfort.
They are, after all, millennials with careers that keep them very busy.
There is some bumpiness in pacing and plotting, butMr.
& Mrs. Smithhas a finely tuned sense of the world John and Jane are striving for.
The aspirational lifestyle is no longer a four-bed, three-bath in the suburbs.
Look at all the finicky succulents on that plant stand in the bedroom!)
Mr. & Mrs. Smithgets its surfaces right.
But its also to make a viewer say Oh, wow,thatperson!
Whether it nails all the stuff underneath is a trickier question.
as he and Jolie pepper their beautiful kitchen with bullets.
& Mrs. Smithis messier, and its trying to get its arms around a bigger set of concerns.
But that feels in keeping with what thisMr.
Is it the brownstone?
Or is it the pleasure of blowing it all up?
