Will Smith Gets Serious in “Collateral Beauty”
By Skip Sheffield
How much do you like Will Smith? Do you like him enough to
see him portray a severely depressed man with no super powers or martial arts
skills?
Such is the case with Howard, a successful New York
advertising executive Smith plays who has retreated from life after the death
of his 6-year-old daughter and his subsequent divorce.
“Collateral Beauty” is not a feel-good movie. It is more
like a feel-bummed movie. Will Smith plays Howard, a successful New York
advertising executive whose agency is in grave peril due to his disconnection.
Things have gotten so bad; three of Howard’s friends are hired to represent the
three things Howard is obsessed with: Love, Time and Death. They are an
impressive lot: Helen Mirren, Keira Knightly and Michael Pena.
Edward Norton gets the most screen time as Whit, second in
command to Will Smith’s Howard. Whit and his colleague Claire (Kate Winslet)
come up with the scheme to jolt Howard out of his depression.
I know about depression from personal experience. There is
nothing funny or logical about it. It can be crippling and even deadly. How
director David Frankel or writer Allan Loeb thought they could make a comedy
out of it mystifies me. At least this movie lifts up the rug to reveal the
people struggling with this disability. That’s good, but it ain’t funny folks.
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