Review of Seven Pounds (2008) by Chads. — 20 Dec 2008

Ben(Will Smith) and the names, the fatal victims of a horrific car accident, they sting him like a box jellyfish. He recites the names after berating a beef salesman, a blind beef salesman; he recites the names as a preventive measure against tears.

Surely, this is a flashback, back when Ben was an ass**** who worked for an astronautical company. We're not sure because "Seven Pounds" tells its story non-linearly; it's a good thing, too, that the movie throws a little heavy lifting our way, because a straightforward rendering would have yielded this fundamental question from the audience a lot sooner: "Why doesn't Ben help the families of the victims instead of these complete strangers?" No.

Ben's berating of the blind beef salesman is not a flashback. He's the subject of a George Harrison-penned "Revolver" track now. The slumming MIT grad likes to test people whom the IRS red-flagged as potential tax-cheats, then the depressed and self-righteous civil servant decides to go ahead with the audit, or deems them worthy of a six-month pardon.

The accident transformed Ben. While his best friend hits golf balls, the taxman opts for a loftier hobby: philanthropy. He's a pushover for tax cheats with physical abonomalies and ailments. Emily(Rosario Dawson) has a heart defect, which leads "Seven Pounds" to a literal interpretation of the old stand-by lyric about love and beneficience.

In one extended scene, where "Seven Pounds" won me over, Ben eats Emily's eggplant parmesan, then hums the melody to Minnie Ripperton's "Loving You". The taxman knows the music, but he doesn't know the words.

After they make love, the words come to Ben. And suddenly he knows what to do with his heart. Despite the inanity of the story's basic premise, this tearjerker gets one thing right, and it has nothing to do with box jellyfish.