Seven Pounds (2008)

As my girlfriend and I purchased tickets this weekend for Seven Pounds, the attendant instead gave us two passes for Quantum of Solace. Innocent mistake or was she trying to spare us the 123 uneven minutes that comprise this messily-plotted Will Smith vehicle?

Many critics have called Seven Pounds something of a vanity project for Smith. It's difficult to disagree. Released at a time when cinemas are flooded with Oscar bait, Seven Pounds seems to be screaming, "Nominate me!" And therein lies the film's major problem: it screams. Constantly. Nothing about it is subtle. Seven Pounds seems to exist purely to go for the heartstrings; but it does so at the expense of logical storytelling.

Smith plays Ben Thomas, an emotional IRS auditor who sets about altering the lives of seven complete strangers. Ben's motivations are hinted at throughout the picture, but never explicitly revealed until the film's harrowing conclusion. The result leaves the audience either bewildered at the meandering plot unfolding before them, or if, like me, they figure out Ben's intentions and motivations early on, impatiently watching the characters behave in implausibly erratic ways in order to withhold the inevitable reveal.

The picture's climax is simultaneously moving and sickening, leaving the audience confused as to what reaction Smith's character is supposed to ultimately provoke. Most damningly, however, the conclusion of the film – and, thus, the film itself – collapses under any kind of logical or scientific scrutiny. Moreover, its weighty themes of suicide and self-sacrifice aren't handled particularly delicately or explored as well as they could have been.

Seven Pounds does contain some worthy performances. Smith gives a decent, if slightly overplayed turn as the unnecessarily mysterious Ben, while Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson are among the able supporting players restricted by Grant Nieporte's heavy-handed script.

Gabriele Muccino, who helmed The Pursuit of Happyness, re-teams with Smith here, but his direction is fairly run-of-the-mill and often uneven; the film's occasional stabs at humour are frequently misjudged.

Seven Pounds isn't necessarily bad, but it's difficult to determine precisely why this film was made and who it was made for. Occasionally moving, it seeks to be empowering, but winds up both baffling and depressing.