Will Smith is a big star and well above average as an actor when given half a chance. He is given a third of a chance, but no more than that, in Gabriele Muccino’s film. Smith is on screen almost throughout, as if Muccino thought that just training the camera on him would make him produce something special. A flaccid screenplay and a limp piece of storytelling that’s far too long don’t allow him to manage it.
Smith plays Ben Thomas, a suicidal man who has killed seven people in a car crash. He tries for redemption by posing as a tax inspector and visiting seven men and women in dire need of help. He’s prepared to do anything for them, sometimes without them knowing. Soon, he falls in love with a cardiac patient (Rosario Dawson), who turns his shattered world inside out.
Seven Pounds starts well, with Smith genuinely looking like a man who’s seen a ghost, determined to purge his soul. But what could have been a good story treads water when he falls in love and ends up stirring a bowl of errant clichés.
Both he and Dawson perform adequately but Muccino doesn’t impart anything like enough depth and, by focusing on his star throughout, puts an intolerable weight on his shoulders.
Seven Pounds
Cert: 12A
