Focus

"Never drop the con."

2015 1h 45m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 8,438

RomanceComedyCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Nicky, an accomplished con artist, gets romantically involved with his disciple Jess but later ends their relationship. Years later, she returns as a femme fatale to spoil his plans.

“Never drop the con.”

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Cast

Will Smith
Nicky Spurgeon
Margot Robbie
Jess Barrett
Adrian Martinez
Farhad
Gerald McRaney
Owens
Rodrigo Santoro
Garriga
BD Wong
Liyuan
Brennan Brown
Horst
Robert Taylor
McEwen

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Requa
Writers: Dan Sweetman, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

229+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Requa, shot by Xavier Grobet. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Nick Urata. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jan Kovac shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Will Smith and Margot Robbie and Adrian Martinez carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Requa directs. Xavier Grobet behind the camera. Nick Urata scores. Jan Kovac cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $50M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Made its money back 3.1× over at the box office.
3Released 11 years ago.
4229+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by John Requa, shot by Xavier Grobet. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Nick Urata. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Jan Kovac shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Will Smith and Margot Robbie and Adrian Martinez carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Never drop the con.".
10IMDB entry: tt2381941 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 9 themes, including "seduction", "con man", "illusion", "deception".
12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Xavier Grobet
Original score: Nick Urata
Editing: Jan Kovac
Production design: Beth Mickle
Costume design: Dayna Pink
Makeup / hair: Aimee Stuit
VFX supervisor: Jim Rider
Sound: Skip Lievsay
Stunt coordinator: Charles Croughwell
Runtime: 105 min · 1h 45m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $50,100,000
Box office: $153,962,963
Return: 307% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Focus (2015)

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John Requa

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wong Kentir2015-03-01
"Focus" blends two different movies in roughly equal measure. One is a movie about con men, scam artists and hustlers, in the tradition of "The Sting," "Ocean's Eleven," "House of Games" and "Shade." The second movie is a romantic comedy between two people who are strongly attracted to one another, but who cannot and do not trust each other. The movie about con men is brilliant. The hustles and scams are clever and cleverly executed with excellent skill and tradecraft. Dramatically, the double-blinds and double- crosses are well executed. The players con their marks, one another and the audience with finesse and aplomb. The cinematography, choreography and editing are crisp. The reveals are plausible within the film's cosmos of reality. The romantic comedy is not bad. One can understand and believe the attraction between the two characters. Will Smith's character is hunky, clever, confident, successful and wealthy. Margot Robbie's character is gorgeous, sexy, vulnerable, clever and charming. But the major plot points in this boy finds girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back subplot seem contrived, while the intriguing aspect of their relationship (How can two con artists with a history of deceiving one another learn to trust one another?) isn't explored in a satisfactory manner. Instead we get a breakup for reasons that are never explained, a repeated gag involving a wallet, and a massive coincidence that leads the audience to believe one of them has a hidden agenda involving the other. The relationship between them works best when they are conning one another, but it needs resolution. Technically, the film is beautifully done. Cinematography, locations, wardrobe, make-up, editing, audio -- everything is polished. It's a movie that merits a second or third viewing, not only to see the cons played out, but also to appreciate some of the subtle foreshadowing.
Reno2015-09-24
★ 6.5/10
Kicked off well, kept the momentum, but the end was... It's a Will Smith's movie, anyway, I was going to watch it, but when the initial cast dropped out, followed by a couple more, simply intrigued me. Actually, I enjoyed the film, but did not like it because of the bad ending. It was a good twist, except the shooting thing. An example how a tiny part can decide the entire movie's fate. Well written crime-drama, with a touch of romance. After all the obstacles, the final cast were at their best. Heist movies always excite me because of the involvement of the tricks and thrills. Nicky, a con artist who recruits a small time thief, Jess to work with his gang. When the job and the romance advancing smoothly, an unexpected split happens. So the years passed, when they meet again, what comes is the crux of the remaining story. The first half let us know what kind of character the Nicky is. His overwhelmed dedication for his undertaking and his reliable team's the focus. Overall, it was the best portion of the movie, and the next half goes for the giant kill, but lacks enthusiasm. More like a revenge or jealousy type narration, but only until reaching the climax where it tries being a very clever and happen all the things at a brisk pace. The film was better than I thought, after learning it was criticised, mostly very badly. Would have been a bit better if the writing was cautious for the crucial parts. Importantly, like I said the end part. 'Yes' for the entertainment it provided and 'no' for one of the best products of the year, 6½/10
The Movie Mob2022-08-20
★ 10/10
Great twists. Great Fun. Great acting. Great movie! As a sucker for heist/con films, I love this movie! Great cast, a fun plot, and just great escapism. After seeing hundreds upon hundreds of movies, I rarely am caught off guard by "surprising" twists, but this movie took turns I didn't expect, and absolutely loved it! Probably not as great as my rating would imply, but if you love a good con artist flick, you will enjoy Focus thoroughly.