Taking on one of the classics is never easy, particularly when it is still beloved today. But Prime Video rises to the challenge with their take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith, taking it in a different tonal direction to the iconic 2005 film and playing with action-romance tropes over the longer, more relaxed timeline of an eight-episode series.
The premise is similar, but this time around, John (Donald Glover) and Jane (Maya Erskine) are assigned to become the Smiths, a married couple posing as software engineers that can somehow afford an extremely nice house in New York (don’t worry, this is a point of discussion in the show). Together they tackle a new mission each episode, assigned via text messages, while their relationship goes from awkward colleagues to something deeper.
As two highly-trained secret agents who live very private lives, it stands to reason there would be some trust issues and tests between them as they seek to suss each other out. There’s even a certain amount of ego you’d expect from people whose job it is to subvert law and order. Watching them dance around each other is part of the allure of this series, even if it does drag a little in the beginning. But when they begin to fall for one another, and finally open themselves up to being vulnerable, is where the show finds its rhythm.
The tone is much quieter and less bombastic than the 2005 film with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt; the chemistry is also not quite as explosive. But Glover and Erskine are both solid in their roles, and while the Smiths’ relationship is a slow burn, it does bring in the heat towards the end when the action really takes off.
The muted tones of the cinematography and the insistent but sleek score slowly build the tension that not only exists between John and Jane, but also the threats building from outside of their relationship. Mr. & Mrs. Smith was designed to be a deeper dive into what makes these secret agents tick and, while it’s a little too slow at times, it has a certain charm that makes you want to keep exploring the ways work and play intertwine.
