People usually remember 2015 for Mad Max: Fury Road or The Force Awakens. It was a big year for blockbusters. But tucked away in the late winter slot was a movie that honestly feels like a fever dream now when you watch it back. I’m talking about Focus with Will Smith.
It’s stylish. It’s colorful. It features a chemistry between Smith and Margot Robbie that feels so real it actually sparked a million tabloid rumors at the time.
But here’s the thing. Most people dismiss Focus as just another "gentleman thief" flick. They’re wrong. Underneath the slow-motion shots of Buenos Aires and the crisp suits, there is a surprisingly deep dive into the psychology of manipulation. It’s a movie about how we see what we want to see.
The Con is the Point (And the Problem)
Will Smith plays Nicky Spurgeon. He’s a "third-generation grifter." That’s a cool title, right? It sounds prestigious until you realize his entire life is built on the fact that nobody can ever truly trust him.
The movie opens with Nicky meeting Jess (Margot Robbie) in a snowy New York hotel bar. She tries to pull a "damsel in distress" scam on him. It’s amateur hour. Nicky sees right through it, and instead of calling the cops, he decides to mentor her.
This sets up the first act, which is basically a masterclass in pickpocketing. The filmmakers actually brought in Apollo Robbins, a world-renowned sleight-of-hand consultant known as "The Gentleman Thief," to train the actors. If you watch the scene where Nicky’s crew works a crowd in New Orleans, those aren't just camera tricks. Those are real techniques—the "pinch," the "distraction," the "lift."
Robbins’ involvement is what makes Focus with Will Smith stand out from something like Ocean’s Eleven. While Ocean’s is a fantasy about high-tech gadgets and impossible vaults, Focus is about the "blind spot" in the human brain.
It’s about neurobiology.
The movie posits that the human brain can only focus on one thing at a time. If I touch your shoulder while I’m reaching for your watch, your brain processes the pressure on the shoulder and ignores the wrist. It’s simple. It’s terrifying. And it works.
That Super Bowl Scene: Luck or Logic?
We have to talk about the gambling scene at the Super Bowl. You know the one.
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Nicky and Jess are sitting in a luxury suite with a billionaire named Liyuan (played by BD Wong). They start betting on increasingly ridiculous things. Who will catch the next pass? What’s the jersey number of the next player to walk off the field?
It feels like Nicky has lost his mind. He’s gambling away millions of dollars. Jess is panicking. The audience is panicking.
Then comes the reveal.
It wasn’t luck. It was "priming." Throughout the entire day, Nicky’s team had been bombarding Liyuan with the number 55. He saw it on a doorman’s lapel. He saw it on a poster in the elevator. He heard it in a song. By the time he had to "randomly" pick a player's number from the field, his brain had been conditioned to choose 55.
Is this scientifically accurate? Sort of.
In psychology, priming is a real phenomenon where exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus. However, the movie pushes it to a theatrical extreme. Could you really force a guy to pick a specific jersey number in a stadium of 100 players just by showing him the number 55 on a lobby wall? Probably not with 100% certainty. But as a cinematic device, it’s brilliant because it makes the viewer feel just as manipulated as the mark.
Why the Chemistry Actually Mattered
Margot Robbie was relatively new to the A-list when she did Focus. This was post-Wolf of Wall Street but pre-Suicide Squad.
The chemistry between her and Smith is the engine of the film. Without it, the "love story" would feel like a cheap distraction from the crimes.
There’s a vulnerability in Smith’s performance that we didn’t see much of in his earlier "action hero" days. Nicky is a man who has spent his life making sure nobody gets close to him. Then Jess shows up. She’s the variable he didn’t account for.
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Directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (who also did Crazy, Stupid, Love) know how to film people talking. They make the dialogue feel like a boxing match. Every word is a jab or a hook.
The second half of the movie jumps three years ahead to Buenos Aires. Nicky is working a new con involving a high-stakes racing team owner. Suddenly, Jess appears on the arm of the mark. Is she part of the play? Is she the mark herself? Is she out for revenge?
The movie keeps you off-balance because it refuses to let you know who is telling the truth. In a world of professional liars, "I love you" is just another tool in the kit.
The Technical Craft of Focus
Visually, this movie is gorgeous. It was shot by Xavier Grobet, and he uses color to define the shifts in Nicky’s world.
- The New York/New Orleans Section: Cooler tones, lots of blues and greys. It feels professional, cold, and calculated.
- The Buenos Aires Section: Explodes with oranges, reds, and deep yellows. It’s vibrant. It feels like Nicky is losing control of his cold, calculated world.
The fashion also deserves a mention. Costume designer Dayna Pink put Smith in tailored suits that make him look like a shark in silk. Robbie’s wardrobe is designed to be distracting—literally. Her clothes are part of the con. If you’re looking at her dress, you’re not looking at her hands.
It’s an overlooked aspect of how Focus with Will Smith uses every frame to reinforce its theme.
What People Get Wrong About the Ending
Some critics felt the ending was too convoluted. There’s a "double-cross" involving Nicky’s father (played by Gerald McRaney) that involves a fake shooting and a very specific medical trick.
Yes, it’s a bit much.
But if you look at the movie as a tragedy rather than a thriller, the ending makes sense. Nicky had to "die" (metaphorically and almost literally) to get out of the life his father trapped him in.
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The movie isn't really about the money. They walk away with almost nothing at the end. It’s about the fact that Nicky finally found someone he was willing to be "out of focus" for.
He gave up the control.
How to Apply "Focus" to Your Own Life (Safely)
You shouldn't go out and start pickpocketing people in New Orleans. Obviously.
But there are genuine psychological takeaways from Focus with Will Smith that apply to marketing, business, and everyday social interactions.
- Understand Attention. Most people think they are paying attention to everything. They aren't. We have a "spotlight" of focus. If you can control where that spotlight is shining, you can control the narrative.
- The Power of Priming. While you can’t force someone to pick a number 55, you can influence moods. Lighting, music, and the first three minutes of a meeting set the tone for the next hour.
- Vulnerability as a Tool. Nicky’s biggest mistake—and his biggest win—was being vulnerable. In business, showing a bit of "the man behind the curtain" often builds more trust than a perfect facade.
- Watch the Hands. Literally. In an age of digital distraction, the most important things are often happening where nobody is looking.
Focus didn’t break the box office, and it didn’t win any Oscars. But it remains one of the most stylish and intellectually interesting films in Will Smith’s later career. It’s a movie that asks you to pay attention, then punishes you for doing exactly that.
If it’s been a few years, go back and watch the New Orleans sequence again. Watch the background characters. You’ll see a dozen "thefts" happening in plain sight that you missed the first time.
That’s the beauty of the film. Even when it tells you it’s lying, you still want to believe the lie.
Actionable Next Steps
If you want to dive deeper into the world of "Focus" and the psychology of the con, here is what you should do next:
- Study the "Gentleman Thief": Look up Apollo Robbins on YouTube. His TED talk on the "Art of Misdirection" explains the actual science used in the movie. It’s a mind-blowing 10-minute watch.
- Re-watch for "The Big Lie": Watch the movie a second time, but ignore Will Smith. Watch the characters in the background during the New Orleans scenes. You will see the "con" happening in real-time.
- Read "The Confidence Game": If the psychology of why we fall for scams interests you, read Maria Konnikova’s book. She breaks down the "stages" of a con, many of which are depicted perfectly in the film.
- Check the "Focus" Soundtrack: The music is a huge part of the movie’s vibe. From "I’m a Man" to "Slippin'," the playlist is a masterclass in using rhythm to build tension in a heist film.