I love cover songs but only when they do their own thing; if I wanted to hear the original, I'd listen to the original. A cover is a great opportunity for new textures and, when a great cover comes along, it's reinvigorating (not to mention if you love both, that means you now have two of the same song to pick from based on your mood - it's such a treat).
That said, anytime I hear some actor/writer/director say they're involved in a remake of a movie or show because they're "a big fan of the original," my immediate response is "...then why remake it?" Music is different, there's definitely something to be said about wanting to do a cover of a song because you love it so much, but movies aren't necessarily remade out of love - it's more cynically capitalist or there's a need to do it better (unless it's A Christmas Carol or A Star Is Born which seem fated to be remade until the end of time). I can think of plenty of fumbled movies that absolutely need remakes because, as they exist, they're monuments of wasted potential (Lisa Frankenstein is the most unfortunately recent example) but there are some that I have no strong opinions on either way.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a movie I've never felt much for so it was a huge relief to read that Donald Glover was not only remaking it, but he watched it and wasn't a fan, and more importantly: he was honest about that. He admitted that he saw room for improvement and then, with Francesca Sloane, worked to make one hell of a cover album that I can't get out of my head. I repeat quotes like humming a melody and mull over its themes like unpacking lyricism. It's even structured in a satisfying way.
There's virtually no plot that isn't eclipsed by character-driven momentum and all the juicy dialog typically chewed on these narrative roadtrips. The details of their spy missions (and sometimes even the action) are incidental unless they affect our burgeoning couple's dynamic. Every episode is about the different stages of dating (episode 5 is all about raising a child which is one of the funniest things I've ever seen [imagine Baby's Day Out but Ron Perlman plays the baby]) and by the time the finale rolls around you'd swear you've known this couple for more than just one season.
Glover and Maya Erskine are so good that it took me 6 episodes to realize just how good they were. And I don't mean that they were unimpressive until Episode 6, no, I mean that they're so good that they flew under my radar. Their chemistry is so natural and potent that watching them feels like eavesdropping in a way; sexy, off-color, and perceptive. They're hot international spies but goddamn if they're not also lame and dumb at times.
Most romcoms tend to write the most snarky, witty, cutesy dialog for the illusion of making our characters likable and charismatic, but not here. The dialog between these two is consistently funny, sure, but it's so uncommonly naked in how ordinary it sounds and it's delivered with such understated sharpness that it makes them more than simply 'likable,' but, rather, relatable and charming without feeling forced or desperate. Their conversations are moreso the kinds that couples have on their way home from seeing a romcom.
They manage to capture the authenticity of a relationship and all of its intricate intimacies and the conversations knotted up therein - including a lovely little set-up/payoff about having to fart in the middle of the night. It's not a 'fart joke' in a crude juvenile sense, it's just... something we all deal with as couples and so unexpectedly cute without rotting your teeth. It's as much about what we say to each other but also about what ISN'T said (or is subtly implied) that makes these two interesting - which is more important than any romcom likability, and that plays into the show's theme of omission. The finale is the closest the show gets to the original movie but it goes far beyond the one-liner quips and bullet-spraying. We're thrust into a marathon of a first act and then brought down by an unexpectedly earnest, woozy, sexy, and sad final act that brings it all to a bold close that, if there's no other season planned...is quite a masterstroke for Glover and Sloane.
Admittedly, this has been a slow year for both movies and TV (Fargo s5 and The Curse don't count because they bled over from 2023) so this sets a high bar for the rest of 2024, or until Glover does something else. I wonder what other movies he might want to improve.
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