Mr. & Mrs. Smith review: The rare reboot that gets it right

The road to the small screen has been a rough one for Prime Video’s reboot of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. First announced in early 2021, the series adaptation of the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie blockbuster endured a major recasting (Out: Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge; In: PEN15’s Maya Erskine) and then a subsequent two-year delay. Given all this, and the fact that the IP already failed once as a TV project, no one would have been surprised if this new spin on the married-assassins thriller turned out to be TV’s latest big-budget disappointment. What a happy surprise, then, that this Smith — developed by Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane (Atlanta) — is exactly what it needs to be. Better, in fact. Fueled by nimble writing and the natural chemistry of its two leads, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is the (very) rare reboot that both evolves and honors the original.

John (Glover) and Jane Smith (Erskine) first meet in the elevator of the enormous Manhattan brownstone bestowed to them by their employer. The newlyweds are legally married strangers, paired by an international spy agency known only as “the company,” which is run by… well, no one really knows. The duo can only communicate with the agency through chat messages from their boss, who begins all his missives with the incongruously chipper salutation, “Hihi.”

Neither was expecting to be matched with a spy-spouse when they applied, and they have distinctly different approaches to the arrangement. Jane is organized and efficient, though she admits to being secretive and a little Type A. John is ex-military, a little too competitive at times, and basically broke — but “not desperate.” He’s chatty and curious about his new work-wife; she prefers to keep their relationship all business. Of course, their repartee is so screwball-snappy we know this isn’t going to last. (Jane: “Who do you think they are, the company?” John: “Who cares? We get a plunge pool.”) Mr. and Mrs. Smith spend their first full day as a couple on their inaugural mission: Intercepting a package and narrowly escaping death in the process. It’s the beginning of a beautifully bonkers relationship.

The show doesn’t waste much time with the will-they-won’t-they stuff, because Glover and Erskine are simply too much fun together to keep apart. Instead, Mr. & Mrs. Smith spends its eight rollicking episodes asking, “Can this (fake) marriage be saved?” and transforming the challenges of their high-concept lifestyle into relatable relationship quandaries. The structure is pleasantly nostalgic: Adventure-of-the-week stories that blend classic spy-genre elements — earpiece banter and epic shootouts, truth serum and international travel — with big-name guest stars in showcase roles. A mission involving a billionaire real-estate mogul (John Turturro) takes a very weird turn after John and Jane have a crucial miscommunication. On a ski trip, the spies stake out a couple (Sharon Horgan and Billy Campbell) living the kind of tense misery that makes all married people fear for their future. In Italy, John and Jane are saddled with a “high-value target” (Ron Perlman) whose petulant and persistent whining gives them an unexpected glimpse of life with a toddler.

Glover and Sloane balance the pacing between missions and slam-bang set-pieces and the quieter moments, like John and Jane’s regular pillow-talk debriefs. A later episode tracks the spies over three increasingly strained sessions with a couple’s therapist (Sarah Paulson, radiating cheery concern), in a nod to the original film. Though it’s the season’s talkiest episode, Glover and Erskine keep the momentum going with their dynamic interplay. Erskine — so wonderfully, uninhibitedly awkward in PEN15 — brings a riveting stillness to Jane. Her character’s inscrutable mien keeps John and the audience a little off-balance, though Erskine reveals glimmers of emotional desolation in Jane’s steady gaze. Glover, always a confident and compelling presence on screen, puts his straight-man charisma to excellent use as John. Part frustrated caretaker (“Just be a person and drink fluids,” he urges his sick wife), part soft-hearted romantic, John struggles to reconcile his chosen profession with his yearning for a normcore home life.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith could use a bigger dose of espionage-related intrigue. Jane’s curiosity about who she works for seems to vanish early on, and we don’t know much more about “the company” at the end of the season than we did at the beginning. The writers do parcel out a few crumbs over the eight episodes, most suggesting that the agency might not get the best employee reviews on Glassdoor. The finale cliffhanger, at least, hints that a reckoning may be on the horizon for the Smiths and their shadowy employers in season 2 — which should be an easy greenlight for Amazon. A reboot this good is an asset worth holding on to. Grade: A-

Mr. & Mrs. Smith premieres Friday, Feb. 2, on Prime Video.

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