REVIEW: Collateral Beauty is Anything But Beautiful

A film starring Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley should be a knockout, slam dunk of a film; however, this is not true with Collateral Beauty.

Howard (Will Smith), a New York City advertising executive, loses himself after his young daughter dies. The film picks up three years after her death and Howard is alone, playing dominoes, and writing letters to TIME, LOVE, and DEATH. Three intangible yet not physical parts of life. His coworkers (Winslet, Norton, and Pena) scheme to have Howard hand over his rights to the company by hiring actors to play those three parts of life. Their goal is to collect evidence Howard is unfit to continue working.

The casting for this film was A+, but the story was not. The story was simple, a little too simple, and it seems like this film could have been salvageable based solely on its cast, but it is not. Too much of the film is spent watching Will Smith ride around New York City on a bike and there were so many other stories trying to be told at one time they ended up left open-ended. The premise tries to tug at the heartstrings and its thirst for that holds the film back.

For those who want to see the film, I suggest seeing it when it premieres on TV. For those who just have to see it in theaters, go see a matinee showing.

Grade: C-