Focus Review: 8 Reasons Will Smith's New Movie Is A Con

3. Two Unlinked Stories Mashed Together

Focus kicks off with Will Smith's Nicky taking Margot Robbie's Jess under his con-wing to fleece those attending the Super Bowl, training her in the tricks of the trade, while also finding time for a bit of 15-rated sex. This all culminates in Nicky indulging his perceived gambling problem to scam a million dollars, before kicking Jess out of the team and sending her on her way because emotions are the tacky through-line to all this. And then... it cuts forward three years and tells a totally different story that just happens to include two of the same characters. Erm... OK? The film has a cool idea for a set-piece - the Super Bowl-box betting scam - and a general idea for a nifty plot - selling a ground-breaking F1 engine - but the writer/directors can't figure out how to make them work together. And instead of taking the time to redraft and sort it out, they just coupled them one after the other and shot the whole thing. The end result is that none of what happens in the first part really affects the second - the racing team owner Garriga and his tough henchman Owens don't factor into the earlier half and Nicky and Jess' relationship is so basic that knowing the ins-and-outs of how they met doesn't increase understanding of the finale. In fact, the whole first hour could've been a five minute intro and there'd be no coherence issues at all.