Not so much an action movie as a romcom with assault rifles.

Mr and Mrs Smith (movie)

Mr and Mrs Smith, the Prime Video show featuring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as two arranged-married spies, has received great reviews (check out the trailer if you don’t know anything about it yet). But it’s very different from the original movie it’s based on, and which you can stream right now on Netflix. The original takes the same concept – two contract killers are married to each other – but comes at it from a different direction: in this film, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in a real marriage, and they’re keeping their spy stuff secret from each other.

Is the original Mr and Mrs Smith worth streaming?

Yes. The 2005 movie is really a classic Hollywood romance with fighting – a screwball comedy with heavy artillery – and the screen crackles with electricity every time Pitt and Jolie are together: they’re clearly having an absolute hoot making this movie, and because they’re both highly skilled actors they deliver just enough seriousness to make the often quite ridiculous plot work. The fact that neither actor fell out of the ugly tree also helps keep you glued to the screen.

As Roger Ebert wrote at the time, “What makes the movie work is that Pitt and Jolie have fun together on the screen, and they’re able to find a rhythm that allows them to be understated and amused even during the most alarming developments.”

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As Empire points out, the story isn’t new: the same conceit was at the core of the mid-80s mob movie Prizzi’s Honor. But “where that was a demure black comedy with all the kinetic energy of a chess game, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a speedfreaks’ pinball tournament.” The movie is a “full-on action flick, subversive rom-com and weapons-grade star vehicle that’s drenched in Tinseltown glitz.”

Is it a film you’ll want to watch a dozen times? Probably not, and it’s not on our list of the best Netflix movies overall. But if you’re looking for a two-hour thrill ride with some great gags, some edge-of-the-seat action and some of the most beautiful people on the planet, Mr and Mrs Smith is a lot of fun.