Review of Collateral Beauty (2016) by Marcel A — 17 Dec 2016

Call me cynical, but my defenses instantly go up whenever a movie's marketing campaign relies heavily on buzz words like 'inspiring' and 'life-affirming'. It usually denotes the kind of maudlin, cliché-ridden morality tale with the subtlety of a Trump campaign speech that Oprah Winfrey routinely devoted entire episodes of her old talk show to promote.

Will Smith is no stranger to this genre (think 'The Pursuit of Happiness' and the atrocious 'Seven Pounds'), so this syrupy meditation on loss and grief seems tailor-made for the actor's sensibilities.

[Remember, this is the guy who turned down the lead role in Quentin Tarantino's revenge epic 'Django Unchained' because he felt it should've been a love story...yeesh!] To his credit, Smith wrings genuine emotion from his role as a near-catatonic father still reeling from the death of his six-year-old daughter, and an impressive supporting cast featuring the likes of Ed Norton, Kate Winslet, Keira Knightly and Helen Mirren helps keep this melodrama interesting for a while.

Eventually, though, the story succumbs to its own silliness, delivering unconvincing plot twists that had my eyes spinning like pinwheels; by the end, I was mourning the loss of $12 and a couple of hours of my time.