Name : Jonathan Rosenbaum / Alias : Chicago Reader
A passing reference to 'The Count of Monte Cristo' offers a partial clue to what makes this movie compelling.

Name : Leonard Klady / Alias : Variety
A testament to the human spirit.

Name : Richard Schickel / Alias : TIME Magazine
Freeman, who is simply a great actor, a man who has never struck a false note in his career, both narrates this tale and anchors it with his authoritative playing.

Name : Gene Siskel / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Simply marvelous entertainment.

Name : Derek Adams / Alias : Time Out
.a throwback to the kind of serious, literate drama Hollywood used to make.

Name : Dave Kehr / Alias : Chicago Reader
There are laughs, but the prevalent tone is one of discreet compassion, without condescension or sanctimony.

Name : Trevor Johnston / Alias : Time Out
A trio of contrasting personalities, the veterans bring both a mischievous wit and a sense of subdued anger to a familiar comic plotline, and the film achieves a rare balance of laughter and compassion.

Name : Vincent Canby / Alias : New York Times
Though the cast is headed by three fine actors, two of whom, Mr. Burns and Mr. Carney, are also extremely funny men, it never elicits any emotional response more profound than curiosity.

Name : Joe Morgenstern / Alias : Wall Street Journal
The film itself comes to feel like a con, thanks to a script that's too clever by two-thirds, and butterfingered in the ways of portraying love.

Name : James Rocchi / Alias : TheWrap
Like a perfect cocktail mixes the sour with the sweet and the bright with the boozy, "Focus" combines seamless, superbly-crafted filmmaking with the fizz and fun created by its leads.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
Even if you're willing to forgive its sinkhole plotholes and farthest-fetched conceits, the film - from cowriters/co-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa - ultimately makes no sense.

Name : Adam Graham / Alias : Detroit News
Smith's natural charisma has been dulled by special effects bonanzas and/or a desire to play against type. In "Focus," he feels like himself again, and he reminds you why he became one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the first place.

Name : Betsy Sharkey / Alias : Los Angeles Times
The Hollywood stakes for Smith are as high as they are for the con man he plays. As it stands, "Focus" just might be a game changer.

Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
Decent but unremarkable . the kind of movie you see with some pleasure but no dreams of sequels or remakes.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
It does enough things right to earn a recommendation, but there are misfires aplenty for those who care to look for them.

Name : Andrew Lapin / Alias : NPR
The second half feels like Ficarra and Requa ran out of ideas and just hit restart.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
You come out feeling you've been had by well-intentioned crooks who aren't ready for the big show.

Name : Connie Ogle / Alias : Miami Herald
Focus is a shiny, stylish shell game of a film that, much like its protagonists, relies on breezy chatter, a good sense of humor and a lot of misdirection to succeed.

Name : A.O. Scott / Alias : New York Times
Mostly, it is fun to watch Will Smith and Margot Robbie, and to marvel at whatever divine or evolutionary miracle concentrated so much charisma in the two of them.

Name : Todd McCarthy / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
Unfortunately, since the major characters' salient character traits are insincerity, opaqueness and untruthfulness, it's hard to invest much interest in any of them.

Name : Wesley Morris / Alias : Grantland
[For Smith,] Focus isn't a full return to brilliance but a welcome stop, hopefully, on the way there.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
It's beautifully photographed and entertaining, with charming performances by Will Smith and newcomer Margot Robbie that tease and tantalize. You won't be bored.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Chicago Sun-Times
Smith and Robbie are terrific together. At various points along the way, he's playing her, and then she's playing him, and then we're almost positive they've let their collective guard down and they're really in love . Or are they?

Name : J. R. Jones / Alias : Chicago Reader
Smith wears it like a well-tailored suit, and the brisk, snappy dialogue is well delivered by an able cast.

Name : Richard Brody / Alias : New Yorker
That sound you hear is the high-fives in the writers' room, and that, unfortunately, is where the filmmakers' focus remains.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
"Focus" is ridiculous in every detail. It's a movie with no truth, that teaches nothing and shows nothing, that has only its audacity to recommend it.

Name : Ignatiy Vishnevetsky / Alias : AV Club
Focus' problem isn't that its stars lack charm, but that it's squeezed into tight spaces between protracted explanations of setups, backstories, and twists-a poor example of the every-shot-must-convey-narrative-information school of filmmaking.

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
It's yet another reminder that if it's not called "The Sting," you shouldn't get too comfortable with a con-game movie.

Name : Kyle Smith / Alias : New York Post
It's not that the movie keeps you guessing with its intricacy, it's more like it's making it up as it goes along.

Name : Lisa Kennedy / Alias : Denver Post
It's a shiny, diverting ride. (And right about now, that's OK.)

Name : Christy Lemire / Alias : RogerEbert.com
Co-stars Will Smith and Margot Robbie remain consistently charismatic, even once the script for this heist caper collapses in a punishing pile of its own twists and double-crosses.

Name : Ann Hornaday / Alias : Washington Post
There's much to be said for a film that doesn't overreach, delivers on most of its promises and gets the audience out the door in just over an hour and a half.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
What keeps the film humming along as smoothly as it does is the chemistry and charisma of its leads.

Name : Liam Lacey / Alias : Globe and Mail
Drunk on its perfume-ad cinematography and doesn't know when to quit with its double-double cross plotting.

Name : Randy Myers / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
This kind of film needs a punchy right hook to follow up its clever, if outlandish, jab late in the game, and "Focus" doesn't deliver.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
This is the kind of movie where we're not supposed to know at any time who is playing whom, but since the characterizations are glossy and paper-thin, it's difficult to get worked up about who gets fleeced.

Name : Barbara VanDenburgh / Alias : Arizona Republic
Although it brings nothing new to the con-artist fold, or even anything thrilling, "Focus" is a seductive enough rehash that benefits from the built-in pleasures of the trade.

Name : Richard Corliss / Alias : TIME Magazine
The mix of longtime star and minx on the rise is one tasty element in the success of a movie that approaches the modest goals and effortless allure of a 60-year-old Hitchcock.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
Smith and Robbie, both going through the motions, don't click at all, and Robbie in particular has nothing to play.

Name : Tom Huddleston / Alias : Time Out
A predictably unpredictable tale of conmen and women complete with the industry-mandated quantity of fast cars, short skirts, sharp suits, slippery billionaires and "Oh, it was that guy all along!" plot twists.

Name : Cary Darling / Alias : Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
The story is ludicrous.Yet Focus, Will Smith's mea culpa to moviegoers after the post-apocalyptic tedium of After Earth two years ago, is more breezily enjoyable than it has a right to be.

Name : Peter Debruge / Alias : Variety
While not quite the "art" it's billed to be, if the perfect con is about diverting one's focus, then this one keeps you distracted till the end.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
Sexy stars, pretty cities, nice music and some tricky action. If that's a con game, well - I'm happy to be had. And you will be, too.

Name : Amy Nicholson / Alias : L.A. Weekly
If Grace Kelly had been raised by coyotes, she might have stalked the screen like Focus' Margot Robbie, a va-va-voom blonde with bite

Name : Joe Neumaier / Alias : New York Daily News
In this lame caper, the biggest scam perpetrated is the one that makes audiences think they'll have a good time.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
The two stars are dazzling distractions. Robbie is a wow and then some. The Aussie actress shows a comic flair backed up with beauty and steel. Even when Focus fumbles, Robbie deals a winning hand.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
Like a counterfeit handbag: It looks great but falls apart when you reach into it.

Name : Peter Howell / Alias : Toronto Star
We can't say we weren't warned. Will Smith has been telling us not to trust him the entire movie.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
At times . Focus resembles a commercial for a pricey brand of liquor, an elite hotel or a luxury car more than a story-driven movie.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
Even in a lark about con artists working through their trust issues, we need more.