Rosario Dawson and Will Smith star in this disaster
Dir. Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson
Grade: C-
Having just seen Seven Pounds, it struck me that the notoriously ambiguous marketing strategy and misguided measures taken by its studio to “protect” audiences from the film’s surprises were awfully unnecesssary – the only thing audiences needed protection from is this schmaltz fest dressed up as a contemplative look at life, death, and sacrifice. It doesn’t help either that the film and its premise are as predictable as thunder after lightning. Perhaps this is the reason why the trailer is so disjointed– anything even hinting at a plot would have given the whole preposterous enterprise away.
Without giving away much, I guess, I will say that the film stars Will Smith as Ben Thomas, a melancholy man working as an IRS agent who has experienced a traumatic event. Said event put him on the very journey we are made privy to, as he meets up various strangers and selects the best of the lot to share in his graces. The film also involves jellyfish…yes, jellyfish. I’ll stop here because anything more would “spoil” any surprises.
Smith’s prior collaboration with Muccino was “The Pursuit of Happyness,” a film I thoroughly enjoyed. There, Smith’s vulnerability and Jimmy Stewart-like everyman qualities were mined to splendid results. Here, however, Smith seems to falter. Thomas faces difficult, often ridiculous twists and turns, and it is difficult to imagine any other actor emerging unscathed from this utter mess. Rosario Dawson, on the other hand, is the highlight of the film in a very touching performance. Other than Dawson, I thought the soundtrack (with tracks by favorites of mine like Muse, Nick Drake and Charles Aznavour) featured a few gems that supplemented some (though not all) of the film’s failures. The talent in the film is undeniable – without them, this script would have probably never seen the light of day and, frankly, we would have been better off without it.
Lawyer by day, blogger by night.