In this very slick crime caper, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, whose previous collaboration was on Crazy, Stupid, Love, have come up trumps.

Set in New Orleans and Buenos Aires and starring Will Smith and Aussie femme fatale Margot Robbie, Focus sizzles, as does the pair’s on-screen chemistry. It’s a return to form for Smith after his cringe-worthy double act with his son Jaden in After Earth. As for Robbie, her presence is as sexy as her role in The Wolf Of Wall Street as Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend. You get the feeling that everyone on set was having a good time as the plot thickens and the twists get curlier.

When accomplished con-man Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) meets novice con-woman Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie) at a bar in New Orleans, they end up becoming partners in work and play but they’re quick to learn that love and deception don’t make good bedmates. They split company only to accidentally re-meet three years later in Buenos Aires on the Formula One racing circuit. Jess has a new man in her life, the dashing Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro, one of Brazil’s most popular actors), a racing team owner, and things start to get tricky when she and Nicky realise that things aren’t really over between them.

Nicky, of course, is working on a con and calls in his best mate, a sarcastic, obese con-man called Farhad (Adrian Martinez – American Hustle), who delivers the creepiest sexist jokes but somehow manages to get away with it. Despite this blemish, Jess looks up to Farhad and the scenes between them are quite funny at times. Although Robbie is playing an American, there is a more direct Oz connection in the cast with the appearance of McEwen (Robert Taylor – The Matrix), another racing team owner caught up in Nicky’s grand plan, and the script contains a few Aussie references as a result. Listen out for ‘em, mate.

Ficarra and Requa have written and directed a thoroughly modern fairytale full of cheats and liars and plenty of double dealing. Focus is a good-looking, fun piece of entertainment; almost without exception the performances are excellent and the actors have ably hit the right notes in the tight, though light, screenplay that keeps you guessing ‘til the end. It has all the ingredients of a classic caper movie - romance, crime, humour and exotic locations - and you can’t ask for more than that.

// SALT

Previewed at Roadshow Theatre, Sydney, on 20 February 2015