Playing a "couple" who've been assigned to secretly pose as French husband and wife in 1942 Morocco in order to bring down an important German ambassador, Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) and Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) never manage to come across as characters whose emotions are authentic and whose plight is even remotely significant. Instead, we're watching two actors who are faking their sentiments for the greater good, and the result is a drama that feels very staged rather than one that earns our confidence honestly. Pitt looks especially bored in the role, as if he either knows the final result will be shit, or that the sophomoric script is simply beneath him and not worth his best effort. Any sense of suspense or tension is for the most part absent, because director Robert Zemeckis never quite takes the time to develop the relationship of the two leads, therefore nullifying any potential thrills that their union may have when it's exposed that Marianne may indeed be a German spy, working undercover even after the two have gotten married and had a baby girl together. Allied may look great, but it feels stale and redundant, like a poor man's Casablanca, unable to even muster a memorable line worth quoting later, unlike that timeless Bogart and Bergman classic.
C-
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