For those who don’t know, I’m an aspiring screenwriter (I know I’m supposed to just say screenwriter, but I haven’t been writing any scripts lately, so aspiring it is…). I try to read a script a week. It is something I have been doing for the past two to three years. My laptop has various scripts I’ve downloaded over these two to three years. There is drama, horror, action, tv, movies; anything I’ve loved in the past or think I might love, or at least like. So far, I’ve only read one script without first seeing the film, It Follows… I should do a post about that. Recently, I’ve been reading more tv scripts (I feel behind, and they are faster to read), but last week I went back to a classic, Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I forgot how much I love that script, and film, so I also rewatched it. Here are my thoughts.
I brought up the aspiring screenwriter bit because while watching, I thought of my Screenwriting 101 class. Our professor went around the room and asked us our favorite films and whatnot. I remember saying I want to write films like Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and/or Sucker Punch (I know Sucker Punch is DEEPLY problematic, but hear me out). I explained that I enjoy films and want to write scripts that have a hyper scene of reality. My professor responded by saying he hopes I write better scripts than those films (he didn’t mean it in a judgy/mean way, and I ADORE him. He taught me so much about the craft. Thank you, Professor Greene, if you ever happen upon this.) If I could go back, I would have included Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
I really enjoy films that are dressed in another genre’s clothing… if that makes sense. On the outside, the film is an action flick. You get gun fights, hand-to-hand combat, and, of course, explosions… but it’s really a mundane drama about a couple who have fallen into a monotonous routine marriage. It’s all about this couple finding that spark that reignites their passion for one another and it’s dressed up as an action film. It’s a simple (and beautiful) tale told in a hyper-realistic way, and I LOVE it.
I couldn’t tell too many differences between the script I read and the film (I assume the versions I find online are the “final” versions, so it isn’t surprising that they are close to the film… but sometimes they are surprising). Some locations were changed and the big showdown at the end was a little different, but that was about it.
Something I love from a dialogue perspective is a double connotation and/or a conversation that is out of place for the characters to have but makes sense in the situation. An example that pops into my head is a scene from Welcome to the Dollhouse. There are two 11-year-olds, and they have a relationship, but Dawn is “in love with someone else”, so she can’t be Brandon’s boyfriend. And he is asking her to tell her the name of this guy she’s in love with. It’s a conversation you’d expect much older people to be having, but it works within the context of the scene and the film.
In Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the one that stands out is the conversation about their “number”. Even just reading the script, I chuckled at this. It is… maybe a common thing, I don’t know, a thing where a couple will ask their partner for their “number”, meaning the number of people they’ve slept with. The scene plays like that, but the “number” they are talking about is how many people they’ve killed. Jane’s number is much higher than John’s, and he asks how she has so many. She tells him, that sometimes it was two or three at a time. I don’t know, even just typing that I chuckled. I love a double entendre.
Maybe I should go a little more in-depth about the film? But it is from 2005. If you’re reading this, you probably already watched it. If you didn’t, here’s a brief synopsis. Jane and John Smith have been married for five (or six) years. They live in the suburbs and live a boring suburban life. There is a bit of a misleading to make you think maybe they are cheating on each other, again, not out of the ordinary when one lives a boring suburban life… only to realize they are BOTH assassins! Eventually, they both are sent on the same job and have to go against one another… but they don’t realize it at the time… eventually they do realize their opponent is their spouse, and they alternate between wanting to kill each other and wanting to save their marriage (which again, is something I think couples can relate to… though, hopefully, in a more figurative way).
During the film, you learn that the respective agencies they work for purposefully sent them on the same job, in hopes that one would take out the other… It does beg the question, how did it take five (or six) years for these top companies with all their intel to learn that two assassins were married… but that’s a pothole I can live with.
All in all, it’s a great film with a great mix of comedy, action, and drama. It still holds up almost 20 years later. If you haven’t watched it, or haven’t watched it in a while, I highly recommend doing so.
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