Thursday, December 18, 2008

SEVEN POUNDS of Heavy Drama

Will Smith's latest emotional drama is heavy handed and almost manipulative. In SEVEN POUNDS, Smith plays a man who is on a quest for redemption and about to change the lives of seven people forever. The teaser says it all: Seven Names. Seven Strangers. One Secret. A secret that is so transparent you can tell where the movie is going after the first 10 minutes. Ugh!

The film suffers from too much reference to the number 7 that some points seem to be labored and forced. I get the spiritual message already!

I like Will Smith as an actor and he also seems to be a genuinely nice person. So I don't really want to say anything bad about him. But his acting in this movie consists of one pained expression all through out, which makes the film even more depressing. Still, he is the one good thing about this film.

You can tell the movie is in trouble when the common reaction of the preview screening audience is to try to identify who the seven strangers are. With the deluge of Oscar-worthy films in the next few weeks, this might be one to skip.
~Michael Gamilla

Seven Pounds opens in Rochester on Dec. 19.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you being a little tough on this movie. I saw it too at the preview screening earlier this week and I enjoyed watching it unfold. I guess I am not one to see immediately where a movie is going. I am happy to sit and watch it get there. I will agree however, that it took too long for this one to come together and make some sense for me. I do feel though, that Will Smith fans will like this film...but there are certainly better movies in theaters right now that deserve to be seen first.

Anonymous said...

EW just named the film one of the 5 worst of the year.