The last time Will Smith teamed up with director Gabriele Muccino, the result was the box office smash The Pursuit of Happyness. With their latest collaboration, it seems as if the pair were engaged in the pursuit of crappyness.
That might sound like an especially harsh pronouncement for a film that seeks only to provide uplift, and I expect there will be many who will respond warmly to the picture’s message of selflessness. But why spend up to 10 dollars on a ticket when a Hallmark card expressing the same sentiments — and in a less laborious manner, to boot — can be had for a mere three bucks?
Smith, charisma intact, stars as Ben Thomas, an IRS agent who’s clearly up to something good. Reaching into the lives of various strangers, he tries to get to know them before bestowing his blessings — and his finances — upon them. Among those he contacts are a blind telemarketer (Woody Harrelson), a battered single mom (Elpidia Carrillo) and, most importantly, Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), a woman in desperate need of a heart transplant. Meanwhile, a deadly jellyfish lurks in the background (no, really).
Scripter Grant Nieporte attempts to keep all the puzzle pieces from connecting until the end, but the scattered flashback sequences allow viewers to suss out what’s up. Nieporte’s screenplay does hit all the proper notes of sincerity, though his story thread distribution is lacking: The movie might have had more emotional resonance had we been able to watch Ben spend equal time with all his targets, but because the focus is on the Ben-Emily romance, the other bits never gather much steam. Harrelson in particular gets gypped: His sightless man is the most intriguing character, but he’s disappointingly held in check.
Pound for pound, the shrug-inducing Seven Pounds ranks as one of the holiday season’s biggest disappointments.
This article appears in Dec 16-23, 2008.
