So this past Sunday the wife and I went to see Seven Pounds. In short, it definitely lived up to the hype. Will brought his A game as usual. But for most, perhaps the film is too dramatic. The story is very compelling. The mystery of who this guy is and what his issue is unravels masterfully using riveting flashbacks. But the last 20-25 years of cinema has shown us pretty convincingly that while soft dramatic tragedies do very well critically, the American viewing audience doesn't truly dig them that much. So what do you get-- an 18 Million dollar opening. This happens to be Will Smith's lowest weekend total ever. One journalist even suggested that the American viewing audience has grown tired of seeing Will in movies pulling at our emotions. Maybe so, but opening at #2 with $18 Million on a bad weather weekend isn't too shabby by everybody else's standards. I think it has more to do with a fickle moviegoing public that could be generally hardened to this type of drama. Or maybe its the ears. It might have little to do with big Willy at all. Besides, he's already arguably the biggest movie star in the world (see the first 7 Pounds blog below), now its time to get a gold statue.
Oh by the way, if you're a certified Will Smith Ph.D (Player hating D&^%head) then you should definitely go and see the film just to see Rosario Dawson look better with a heart condition than the whole cast of Sex and the City in 7 pounds of make-up and stilettos. Check Woody Harrelson out in a few scenes showing some acting chops I haven't seen from him in a while. You think its easy playing blind? Michael Ealy really should have been given a couple more scenes. But overall this was a great film that hoovered the tears out of just about everyone. Sappy I know, but if Seven Pounds had been made in the 80s or 90s Will would have been given the Oscar on set!
Until next time,
-Sirius
