Nicky (Will Smith) is a wonderfully talented conman. He travels the world, taking money from anyone and everyone who presents him with the opportunity to do so. When he meets a young woman, Jess (Margot Robbie), he finds new ways to con people and new ways to make immense amounts of cash. After one of the biggest jobs he has ever pulled off, Nicky determines that his use for Jess, the woman who had fallen in love with him, is over. After a less-than-mutual separation, the two move on without the other. After years apart, during a job Nicky is working in Buenos Aires, he and Jess accidentally find one another again. What you see is not always what you get. Nicky will have to determine what is reality and what is a con.
The film fell short of expectations and writers and directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa struggled to appropriately pace the film. While the premise of the film sounded and had the potential to be very interesting, Requa and Ficarra decided to spoon feed every minute detail of Jess and Nicky’s budding relationship rather than speed things up and get to the meat of the story. The majority of the film was boring and lacked the ability to grip an audience and keep them enngaged. Filmgoers know what to expect from Will Smith and Margot Robbie as they are two of the most talented actors in Hollywood. So, it was no surprise that the two worked so beautifully with one another and delivered compelling scenes of theft and deception. Sadly, even with their ability to make everything believable, they were not provided with enough substance to create an entertaining product. With that being said, there was one, fantastically developed scene about halfway through the film. The combination of Nicky, Jess and the mysterious Liyuan (BD Wong), created a spectacle for the audience and raised the stakes of the film within one fifteen minute scene. This provided a glimpse of the full potential of the film but left the viewers disappointed as the remainder of the film fell right back into the depths of nothingness.
The expectation of this thriller was that Smith and Robbie would deliver compelling scenes of dishonesty with some action sprinkled throughout. While the actors possessed the talent to deliver, Ficarra and Requa butchered their script and ultimately provided audiences with an underwhelming story with very little to be excited about.
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