Mr & Mrs Smith

All publicity is good publicity, or so the saying goes. The media-fuelled speculation over Angelina Jolie's possible romantic involvement with Brad Pitt will no doubt ignite interest in Mr & Mrs Smith and add a generous few million to the box-office takings.

Cynics might suggest it's all a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt.

Whatever the truth of the matter, Doug Liman's comedy-thriller, which is pitched as The War Of The Roses meets True Lies, delivers a breath-taking blitzkrieg of explosive action and pithy one-liners.

John Smith (Pitt) and his wife Jane (Jolie) have been married for "five or six years" and are now stuck in a lifeless suburban rut.

Every morning they go off to work, return home to eat dinner at 7pm on the dot, exchange a few pleasantries ("I bought new curtains"), then retire to bed.

In desperation, the couple heads for marriage guidance in the hope of rediscovering the spark which brought them together in Bogota.

And excitement is certainly what they get when John and Jane learn they have been keeping secrets from each other.

More specifically, one very big secret: They are assassins-for-hire for rival organisations, highly skilled in firearms, deception and subterfuge.

To make matters worse (as if the sham marriage wasn't bad enough), John and Jane discover they each have a special new contract. Suddenly their vow to love "until death us do part" seems spookily pertinent.

As bullets and grenades fly, John and Jane realise married life isn't so dull after all and perhaps they should combine their expert skills to stay alive.

Mr & Mrs Smith is surprisingly well written - the barbed exchanges between John and Jane are studded with some deliciously mean-spirited insults.

The climax is a spectacular car chase, which is constantly interrupted by the Smiths' bickering, with Jane confiding that the man who gave her away at the wedding was, in fact, a paid actor.

"I told you I saw him on Fantasy Island," shrieks John. "I can't believe I brought my real parents to our wedding," he adds sulkily.

Both Pitt and Jolie look fabulous and are the catalysts for an electrifying screen chemistry.

Their comic timing is excellent and Vince Vaughn is a hoot as John's buddy Eddie, who still lives at home because his mother is the only woman he can trust.

The plot is ramshackle to say the least, with some gigantic leaps of logic and at least one twist which is sign-posted a mile off.

Even so, Mr & Mrs Smith continues to entertain for the entire two hours.

A sequel wouldn't be out of the question - this bloodthirsty battle of the sexes has a marriage licence to thrill.