Starring: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Adrian Martinez, Gerald McRaney, Rodrigo Santoro, BD Wong, Brennan Brown, Robert Taylor, Dotan Bonen, Griff Furst, Stephanie Honoré
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Romantic crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Glenn FicarraHonoré. Focus (2015) follows veteran con artist, Nicky (Will Smith), who takes amateur con artist, Jess (Margot Robbie) under his wing. While Nicky teaches Jess the tricks of the trade, the pair become romantically involved, but when Jess gets uncomfortably close, Nicky ends their relationship. Couple of years later they meet again in Buenos Aires, but now they are on opposing sides of the same scam; a billionaire international race car owner. The reunion throws Nicky off his game, placing his lucrative deal and his life in jeopardy.
Our Favorite Quotes:
Best Quotes
Jess: Will you be my boyfriend, just for a minute. You’re not a serial killer, are you?
Nicky: That depends. How many times does it take to get to “serial”?
Jess: Five.
Nicky: Oh, no. We’re good.
Jess: [guessing flavors in the brandy] Burgundy?
Nicky: Very good.
Jess: It’s very confusing, isn’t it? How do you know it all?
Nicky: Mostly from drinking.
Nicky: Yeah. More you drink, more you learn.
Jess: In that case, I am the foremost expert in Jägerbombs.
Jared: Give me one f***ing reason why I shouldn’t do it!
Nicky: I’m drawing a blank.
Jared: What?
Nicky: I think you should shoot me. Let’s be honest, you’ve been aggrieved.
Jess: Don’t mess with him, Nicky. He’s done hard time.
Jared: I’ve done f***ing hard time.
Nicky: If you had any idea what I was about to do to her…
Jared: Shut up, man!
Nicky: She was going to be no good to you after that. So you should really shoot me.
Jared: What the f***?
Jared: You stop f***ing around! I’m going to f***ing kill you.
Nicky: You’d really be doing me a favor. Cancer. Tumor the size of a peach. Pull the trigger, you’ll see.
Jared: You got cancer?
Jess: He’s onto us.
Jared: Oh, s**t! I knew this wasn’t going to f***ing work!
Nicky: You guys suck.
Jess: Just give us the money.
Nicky: Or what?
Jess: Or he’s going to shoot you in the neck.
Jared: I don’t want to shoot a guy with cancer. Grandma Mukulski had cancer.
Jess: He doesn’t have cancer, you idiot!
Nicky: [to Jared and Jess] You guys really boned this thing. First of all, you got to wait till she gets my pants off. And then you got to give me a chance to run. That’s how you get the money. And you never drop the con. You never break. Die with the lie.
Jess: Then why did you come up here if you’re so smart?
Nicky: Professional curiosity. And I like boobs, you know. I figured it was a win-win. All thumbs, sweetheart. It was a bum lift.
Jess: It was a great lift.
Nicky: [referring to Jared] Please. He was so s**thoused, you could’ve taken his appendix. You suck.
Nicky: You really should be more aware. I’ve been behind you for two blocks, you didn’t see me?
Jess: I don’t have eyes in the back of my head.
Nicky: Well, if you’re going to play this game, you might want to grow a pair.
Jess: I can take care of myself.
Nicky: No, you’re going to get hurt.
Nicky: You shoot your partner, it proves you’re not together.
Jess: You kill your partner?
Nicky: You hope you don’t.
Jess: Does it work?
Nicky: He’s O for three.
Jess: So your father killed your grandfather?
Nicky: That’s the world you’re in. Dabblers get killed.
'Here's the thing about lying. Here's the problem. It f***s up all your options. Paints you into a corner.' - Nicky (Focus) Click To Tweet
Jess: Look, I wasn’t born into this like you. I was a dyslexic foster kid. No prospects, no future. I mean, it’s a minor miracle I’m not a hooker right now. Tutor me.
Nicky: No.
Jess: Why not?
Nicky: I’m headed out of town.
Jess: Well, wait, look, I can pay you. If that helps.
Nicky: Whose wallet is that?
Jess: [looking at the ID card in the wallet] “Dr. Peter Woshilak.”
Nicky: Alright, we’re going to make this quick because it’s really cold. Now I’m going to show you a few touches, but at the end of the day this is a game of focus.
Jess: That’s very clever.
Nicky: Alright, now, attention is like a spotlight. And our job is to dance in the darkness.
Jess: [as he holds up her watch] I didn’t even feel you take that.
Nicky: The human brain is slow, and it cannot multitask.
Nicky: [to Jess] You’re thinking with your hands. You got to get inside the vic’s head, perceive from their perspective. Human behavior is very predictable. If I look at my hand, it naturally pulls your gaze and allows me to enter your space. But when I look up at you, it causes you to look directly at me.
Nicky: I touch you here, I steal from here. I tap you here, I steal from here. I tap you here. I steal from here. I step to here. You’re not going to slap my face, are you?
Jess: Why?
Nicky: You would if you knew where my hand was.
[he holds up her handbag]
'Human behavior is very predictable.' – Nicky (Focus) Click To Tweet
Nicky: Fat-A** Farhad is flying in.
Horst: Two, coed. He still got irritable bowel?
Nicky: Yep.
Horst: Man, he should do a cleanse.
Nicky: Horst, he is a four hundred pound Persian. He is not going to do a cleanse.
Jess: I want in.
Nicky: Maybe I’m just here to watch the game.
Jess: I asked around who ran the game in Harlem. The Limehouse Kid is your grandfather. Bucky Spurgeon is your father.
Nicky: Father is a very generous term.
Jess: And you’re Nicky Spurgeon. They call you Mellow.
Nicky: I’m all crewed up, sweetie.
Jess: Oh, come on. Please!
Jess: Can we skip the part where I speak through thinly veiled allure and lead you to believe there’s some earth-shattering hump in the works? Because I suck at that kind of stuff. I just want in.
Nicky: There’s no earth shattering hump in the works?
Jess: No.
Nicky: I don’t even get “thinly veiled allure”?
Jess: No.
Nicky: No baby voice? No lingering eye contact?
Jess: I am hopeless.
Nicky: That’s all my favorite s**t.
Jess: I’m sorry.
Nicky: Can I suggest that you learn? Professionally.
Jess: [tries to act sexy] Well, I mean, you could show me in your room?
Nicky: That is so bad.
Jess: Is it?
Nicky: Does it feel sexy on your face?
Jess: A little.
Jess: [referring to the sexy dress] Why do I have to wear this?
Horst: No one looks at your hands when you got that working for you.
Jess: I can’t breathe.
Horst: First things first. We stick to rich folks and no one with a cane or a wheelchair, it’s bad luck. Tommy’s the shade, Gareth’s the stick. All eyes on me until I make the mark an once I fan him, I tug my lapel. Two fingers means it’s a prat poke. Three fingers means the leather’s an insider. If it’s a cordeen or an ox tongue, I’ll scratch my nose, unless I use my thumb, which means I am actually scratching my nose. Anything on the left or the right tail I’ll cock my head, but nowadays keister kicks are ninety-five percent of it. So you just do the touch, and I ding the poke in the nearest mailbox, okay?
Jess: I’m sorry, what?
Horst: Okay, plan B. You two, come with me.
Nicky: You’re in.
Jess: Really?
Horst: Congratulations, you’re a criminal.
Nicky: There’s card games everywhere and they let anyone with enough cash in. Chances are, at least one of those guys you don’t know is a mechanic who can work a deck like Bill Clinton works a crowd.
Nicky: Married guys are the best. Who they going to tell?
Nicky: Every minute there’s something going on down here. Every bar, restaurant, hotel, everywhere. Guys working alone, working in teams. Not just cash either. Identity theft and credit card spoofing are big too. You can skim the data right off a credit card in about a second. But boosting a wallet only gives you an hour before the vic gets wise and the cards are canceled. So you put the card back. By the time the mark gets wise, he’s in Youngstown arguing with his wife over the charges we rack up before the bill comes.
Farhad: Who’s the girl?
Nicky: Her name is Jess, Farhad. She’s our intern.
Farhad: Ah. You’re hitting that?
Jess: I’m right here.
Nicky: No, Farhad. I’m not hitting that.
Farhad: You should hit that.
Jess: Yeah. Hi. Still right here.
Farhad: I’d totally hit that.
Jess: [to Nicky] He’s f***ing with me, right? Right?
'There's a science to getting people to trust you. With women, it's all about emotion, connection. That you feel the emotion as strongly as they do.' - Nicky (Focus) Click To Tweet
Nicky: So we’re about thirty strong, everybody gets a percentage. We cover bribes and fall money for anybody who gets pinched, knock wood. We sell the ATM data to a guy in Singapore. The shopaholics here buy merchandise which we overnight back to ourselves and resell on the gray market. Yesterday we bought two MacBook Airs.
Jess: [picks up an expensive looking necklace] Oh, my God. That is incredible. Oh, do you think that maybe I…?
Nicky: No. Sell everything. Take no chances.
Jess: So, what about the big con? I thought you were all big time.
Nicky: Oh, you mean the one where we make so much money we all retire and get yachts and boob jobs. Yeah, that’s a fantasy. We are in the volume business. Safer that way.
Nicky: You can count on me.
Jess: Can I?
Nicky: Most would say no.
Jess: You seem trustworthy.
Nicky: Maybe you should take that cab.
Jess: Yep. Okay.
[Jess leaves, later Nicky turns up at Jess’s room and they have sex]
Farhad: Actually, I don’t know. I mean, I like the guy. I do, but people aren’t really his bag, so it’s hard to tell sometimes.
Jess: Yeah, I guess you can’t blame him. I mean, he told me about that thing with his dad and his grandfather. It was crazy.
Farhad: He told you that? I mean, I’ve heard that story, but never from him.
Jess: Really?
Farhad: You must throw a mean one. Damn.
Trailer: