Collateral Beauty (2016)

[Dejana]

Starring:  Will Smith, Helen Mirren, Edward Norton, Michael Peña, Naomie Harris, Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet

IMDb:

Quote

Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus (it's at 14% fresh right now):

Quote

Well-meaning but fundamentally flawed, Collateral Beauty aims for uplift but collapses in unintentional hilarity.

More than one critic says that even M. Night Shyamalan would think the twists in this one are too much (here, in case you really want to know). Had this shown up on UP or Lifetime (a Hallmark movie would never be so diverse) with a much less famous cast and a smaller budget, it would've fit right in with the annual holiday TV movie deluge.

[ribboninthesky1]

LMAO at that Vox review! With all of the acting talent in this film, I can't help but wonder if the script they were given was something entirely different from the final product. I think I'll read it again for another laugh. I'm kind of curious if there's any promotion/junkets that the cast is participating in, but then again, I feel embarrassed enough on their behalf. Wow. 

Warner Bros is obviously flailing - I read elsewhere that one of their top executives was recently replaced, someone from New Line, I think? Well, if the AT&T deal goes through, they can't do much worse than WB already has.  

[Ohwell]

Looking at the cast, it seems like they were just bored and decided to do this movie on a whim.  Certainly none of them need the recognition (maybe Michael Pena and Naomie Harris even though I'm familiar with them), and they're not starving and need a paycheck, lol.  

Seriously though, I do think that when some actors get to a certain level of fame, they just don't give a shit and will do a crappy movie just for grins. 

[galax-arena]

The title alone makes me wince.

[Dejana]

3 hours ago, Ohwell said:

Looking at the cast, it seems like they were just bored and decided to do this movie on a whim.  Certainly none of them need the recognition (maybe Michael Pena and Naomie Harris even though I'm familiar with them), and they're not starving and need a paycheck, lol.  

Seriously though, I do think that when some actors get to a certain level of fame, they just don't give a shit and will do a crappy movie just for grins. 

Will Smith hoped Pursuit of Happyness and Seven Pounds were his ticket to Oscar, so maybe his tastes in awards bait leans to the maudlin side, but I would guess the rest probably thought CB was profound and had a message about the meaning of life, without taking into account the creepy yet hokey nature of the story. If you look back at a many classic movies, they have fairly sinister elements that are glossed over, but you'd like to think that if those stories were made now, that the scripts would take changing mores into account and play out differently. Except I think sometimes Hollywood, especially the movie side, is firmly stuck in the past and don't seem to fully anticipate how stuff that would've flown in the Eighties or Nineties gets roundly rejected now, not just by critics but by audiences as well. Movies like Patch Adams used to make lots of money even with terrible reviews, niy now people will just wait to watch it at home in three months.

[ribboninthesky1]

I could see these folks thinking they might be doing a potentially deep, feel-good holiday film that's a twist on a classic. Doesn't seem like that's what this turned out to be. Of course, I haven't seen it - it's entirely possible that the film isn't as bad as reviews state.  But that Vox review was pretty straightfoward, and it read like the editing was a hatchet job.

I'm not really sure how Will Smith makes his film decisions these days.  He hasn't had a legit hit since I Am Legend, almost ten years ago. I realize he has his detractors, but I've always thought he had talent.  I'm sure Concussion was Oscar bait, yet it seemed to die on the vine, and Jada got more attention with the OscarsSoWhite controversy than the film itself.  There is Suicide Squad, which I've not seen, but that seemed more of an ensemble and was one of DC's poorly reviewed, yet financially successful films. Then again, unless you're part of some franchise or animated film, there's not much money to be made. 

Still, I feel like Smith should consult with Denzel.  The latter's recent films may not be box office blockbusters, but they don't seem to be widely panned, either. 

[thuganomics85]

I think this might actually be my personal worst of the year.  Everything about it was just so bad.  The "twists" and tone was just insane.  Basically, we're watching three co-workers and so-called "friends" hire actors to gaslight a grieving father, and the film is playing this weird, whimsical music during the scenes, where it's feels like they expect us to be enjoying watching these "actors" make a clearly distraught man think he's losing his mind.  What are they going for, here?  I was just so baffled.  And then they put so much focus on the co-workers, because I guess I'm suppose to like them, even though they are doing this?  I get that I'm suppose to feel for them since Howard grieve was hurting their company and their livelihood, but there had to be a better, more professional way to get him out, other then this.  And even then, I never felt like they were really concerned for his well-being.  At least toss a line about how they hope once he's gone, he can finally get help or something.

But what was really amazing to me is that this amazing cast flat-out sucked.  The only ones who came close to not embarrassing themselves I thought where Naomi Harris (despite getting stuck with one of the most hilariously bad monologues ever) and Edward Norton, since he seemed to be the only one who realized his character sucked, and seemed to be slimly it up as much as possible.  But Will Smith was one-one, Michael Pena looked bored, I have no clue who the hell Jacob Latimore is or who he impressed to somehow get cast with these big names, and to my surprise, Kate Winslet and even freaking Dame Helen Mirren were flat-out bad.  I didn't know that was possible!  But biggest loser goes to Keira Knightley, who seemed to only either pout her way through the film, or doing Blue Steel to the camera, like she was on a photo shoot.  Come on, Keira!  I love you: what in the hell are you doing?!

All that said, it was least bad in a fun way.  Will Smith's angry face whenever he rode his bike had me dying.  And then the hilarious twist about him and Naomi Harris was the greatest.  Ha!

I'm going to guess either someone has a lot of dirt on these particular actors, they were sent another script, or it was the good old "Dump a truckload of money on their lawns" thing, and they were like "Why, yes.  I would totally toss any credibility aside for those numbers!"

I use to love you, Will.  But it's getting sad that Wild Wild West might not even be in your Top Five Worst movies, already.  Hell, your best recent work might be freaking Suicide Squad, of all things.

[Dejana]

15 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

I'm going to guess either someone has a lot of dirt on these particular actors, they were sent another script, or it was the good old "Dump a truckload of money on their lawns" thing, and they were like "Why, yes.  I would totally toss any credibility aside for those numbers!"

I use to love you, Will.  But it's getting sad that Wild Wild West might not even be in your Top Five Worst movies, already.  Hell, your best recent work might be freaking Suicide Squad, of all things.

The movie's budget isn't very high given all the talent involved ($36 million), but it's not like it was a shoot on open water with tons of action scenes, either. Maybe it's like how Valentine's Day is packed with stars because they got paid a nice amount of money for 4–5 days of work? It probably all seemed more profound on paper. At different points in the production process, Hugh Jackman was set to star with Rooney Mara and Rachel McAdams either committed or in talks for the project. When Jackman had to drop out due to prior filming commitments, Johnny Depp was considered as a replacement. I can only imagine the reviews would have been even worse!

Edited December 29, 2016 by Dejana

[LauraAnders]

The following is a link to "Collateral Beauty" on the IMDB data base.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4682786/

I have trouble understanding Will Smith's work - the quality of his work. Some of his films are really super. But, others are just, well, ... kind of crappy.

I was very surprised that I enjoyed Collateral Beauty so much. The description of the plot just sounded so goofy. I thought that I'd get a big laugh out of this film because it figured to be so bad. But, I was dead wrong. I thought his acting was great. I thought most all of the acting was great. The quality of his acting seemed to me to rival that of "Concussion". I think that Concussion may have been his best film ever and I want to recommend that one to all of you as well as Collateral Beauty.

The last time I cried watching a movie was in 1970. Love Story.

But this movie had a surprise ending and I cried. I seriously cried.  It was a wonderful film and I heartily recommend it to all of you. Wonderful.

Will Smith hit it right out of the park. He did a great job with this film. I loved it and I'm guessing many of you will love it too.

Edited March 3, 2017 by LauraAnders

[Anela]

I watched this last night. I'd avoided it after reading a really negative review, that put me off. I had wanted to see it in the theatre, until I saw that review.

he did do a good job, and the end surprised me.  I cried a lot at one point. 

[BooBear]

On 3/3/2017 at 7:35 AM, LauraAnders said:

 was very surprised that I enjoyed Collateral Beauty so much. The description of the plot just sounded so goofy. I thought that I'd get a big laugh out of this film because it figured to be so bad. But, I was dead wrong. I thought his acting was great. I thought most all of the acting was great. The quality of his acting seemed to me to rival that of "Concussion". I think that Concussion may have been his best film ever and I want to recommend that one to all of you as well as Collateral Beauty..

Frustrating that it got such bad reviews. It was the first movie in weeks that held my attention. I enjoyed it. I should have seen the twists but I didn't.  That is great. I was actually annoyed at the start that they made death, time and love actors.  I should have known. I also didn't see the twist with his wife but did have a feeling something was up there. Overall it did make me tear up a few times. My only issue with Will's character is why he was so devastated 2 years later. I mean that seemed extreme even for losing a child.  But I went with it.

[Anela]

3 hours ago, BooBear said:

Frustrating that it got such bad reviews. It was the first movie in weeks that held my attention. I enjoyed it. I should have seen the twists but I didn't.  That is great. I was actually annoyed at the start that they made death, time and love actors.  I should have known. I also didn't see the twist with his wife but did have a feeling something was up there. Overall it did make me tear up a few times. My only issue with Will's character is why he was so devastated 2 years later. I mean that seemed extreme even for losing a child.  But I went with it.

A family friend lost her son five years ago, when he tried to break up a fight (and died from a head injury). She isn't over it, and I doubt that she ever will be. 

[BooBear]

1 hour ago, Anela said:

A family friend lost her son five years ago, when he tried to break up a fight (and died from a head injury). She isn't over it, and I doubt that she ever will be. 

Well I don't mean that but he was almost unable to go about the activities of daily living.  That seems a little extreme especially in light of the fact that his daughter's mom was not in a similar bad way. Unless I missed it they didn't give any particular reason for that. 

[jah1986]

I just saw this last night and really enjoyed it.  I felt almost immediately that the "actors" were the real deal.  I thought the twist with the wife at the end was good and I'll have to watch again to see if there are any hints earlier.  I think I knew when he went to her house because I was thinking how does he know where she lives and why did she let this relative stranger into her house?  The movie wasn't at all what I expected and I would recommend it to others.

[Couver]

On 3/26/2017 at 3:23 PM, Anela said:

I watched this last night. I'd avoided it after reading a really negative review, that put me off. I had wanted to see it in the theatre, until I saw that review.

he did do a good job, and the end surprised me.  I cried a lot at one point. 

I was in the exact same boat. I enjoyed the trailers but when it got panned across the board I didn't bother going to see it.

I finally saw it yesterday and I really liked it. The twist with the 'actors' was the best part because I wasn't expecting that reveal at the end. I really liked how they were not just there to help Howard but the other characters as well. I thought the ensemble cast did a great job. 

Overall a very touching movie about dealing with loss. It certainly didn't deserve the amount of negative press it got.