Focus (2015)

Staying in the same year as Z for Zachariah, our next installment in the Margot Robbie filmography watch through brings us to Focus (2015). This is one that has been rotting on my watchlist for ages. I am glad to finally have a reason to seek it out and watch it.

Title: Focus

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes

Watched via: Streaming on Tubi

IMDb synopsis: In the midst of veteran con man Nicky’s latest scheme, a woman from his past – now an accomplished femme fatale – shows up and throws his plans for a loop.

Nicky (Will Smith) is an expert con man who spots a man and a woman, who are clearly a couple of rookies, and decides to play along with their con before exposing them and breaking down where they went wrong. The female half of that duo, Jess (Margot Robbie), wants to learn, wants to get better, and is committed to that lifestyle.

Although hesitant at first, Nicky takes Jess under his wing and begins to show her the ins and outs of how to successfully run a con. Whether it be wallets, watches, purses, rings, or credit cards, Jess picks up quick and can run with the best of them. At this point, I am all in for wherever we are going. A fun and flashy movie that glorifies the life of con artists? Sure, it could be fun. But wait, we can’t have that. Instead, it would seem that Jess has also stolen Nicky’s heart.

While in New Orleans running various other cons, Nicky and Jess attend “the big game” and in doing so wind up placing insanely high prop bets with legendary gambler Liyuan (BD Wong). Nicky loses each bet and is quickly down over a million dollars. He then decides to wager one final bet, Liyuan picks any player at random on the field and Jess will correctly guess their jersey number. Jess begs and pleads with Nicky to reconsider, but he insists.

Once Liyuan picks his player, Jess scans the field through binoculars. Nervous of picking incorrectly, she stutters and stammers as she tries to decide who to pick. But then, much to her surprise, Jess spots a member of Nicky’s team, Farhad (Adrian Martinez). After choosing Farhad’s jersey number of 55, Nicky and Jess take their winnings and exit the arena.

As they are pulling away from the arena, Nicky lets Jess in and explains how her not knowing the angle was essential for the plan to work. He then tosses her eighty thousand dollars, tells her she did great but the job is over, and then leaves in a different car.

Flashforward three years and we are in Buenos Aires. Nicky is recruited by Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro), owner of an F1 team, to run a con on a rival team. Nicky will pose as a disgruntled engineer who ultimately leaks exclusive fuel technology to rival McEwen (Robert Taylor). On the night the plan is to be put into motion, Nicky sees Jess walk down the stairs and put her arms around Garriga. Jealousy, regret, and anger wash over Nicky as Jess tells him that she is with Garriga and leading a very happy life now. Nicky is then determined to win back Jess regardless of the stakes.

Meanwhile, Nicky is still able to remain focused on the task at hand. He is able to get McEwen to believe the technology stolen from Garriga is legitimate. Next thing we see, Nicky is making deals with every single team. Each paying him three million euros in exchange for the technology. He turned his three million euro con into a twenty-seven million euro con.

But what about Jess? Does Nicky get her back? Does Garriga find out Nicky conned him? That you will have to find out for yourself. I am not going to spoil everything here. Not even in my thoughts on the film overall.

While this is the largest role for Margot that we have seen so far, it is also by far her strongest performance. She is absolutely fantastic in the role of Jess. And you can say what you will about his recent actions, but I will always see anything with Will Smith in it (even if it does takes me forever to get to it on my watchlist). The chemistry between Margot Robbie and Will Smith is the real MVP of Focus (2015). They are so strong together that you want to keep watching to see what happens next. Unfortunately, the script fails them and the chemistry is not used to it’s fullest potential.

The first act sets the tone for a fun con heist caper but the second and third act struggle to keep up. Overall I would say that it was an enjoyable watch. However, there was not anything here that would make it stand apart from the crowd as an unforgettable film.

So, what do you think? What are your thoughts on Focus (2015)? Let me know in the comments below or by reaching out on social media!

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What is coming up next in the Margot Robbie filmography watch through?

We won’t be going too far as we will be right back here in the year 2015 for her uncredited role in The Big Short. If you have not seen it yet, unfortunately it is not currently streaming. But, if you do not own it, it is available to rent on Amazon for $2.99 and Apple for $3.99.