“Seven Pounds” a little too heavy

When Will Smith took on “The Pursuit of Happyness,” he was able to give a great performance with a script that may have seemed a little formulaic but it still worked. In “Seven Pounds,” he has to work with a script so scattershot and uneven that his good performance can’t even save it.
The opening scene has Ben Thomas (Smith) calling 911 and reporting his own suicide. From there, the viewer is taken back to what has happened before that scene.
Ben Thomas is an IRS agent who wants to help people pay off their late taxes and get them back on the right track. However, he finds in some of his first cases presented on screen that the people he’s trying to help have something he doesn’t agree with and he shuts them out.
One case is that of a man named Ezra Turner. Ben calls Ezra out because he is a blind telephone operator for a meat ordering company who is also a vegetarian. This baffles Ben and he throws harsh insults at Ezra over the phone. Surprisingly, Ezra is able to keep his cool and finish the conversation without blowing steam.
There are some cases where he tries to help people and they don’t want help from a stranger. One is that of Connie Tepos a mother of two living with her abusive boyfriend. Ben doesn’t know her but he wants to help her. She refuses his help, seeing as how she doesn’t know him and also she doesn’t want her issues to become public.
He meets Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) who changes his life around after he finds out she has a congenital heart problem. However, she’s not too sick to be put on the donor’s list for a new heart. He realizes her situation and decides to put what she owes on hold until she can find a donor.
The story’s main focus is on the relationship between Emily and Ben. He wants to help these other people you meet but the main person he cares for the most is Emily.
They fall for each other and Ben tries to keep the relationship steady without it ruining what he wants to do.
The film overly dramatizes many scenes and spends way too much time reminding us of how Ben has become an emotional wreck and why he is doing this. It’s first hinted at the viewer in the beginning of the film through many flashbacks and nightmares. It continues to hint more scenes as the movie progresses but it becomes clear and simple what happens after the third flashback.
The sound guys worked way too hard to make this movie as dramatic as possible. There were many scenes where the phone rings in echoes because Ben feels disconnected and delusional with reality. I think one time may have been enough. I didn’t keep track of how many times it happens in this movie but I know it happens more than once.
This film has a lot of religious undertones. Ben seeks for forgiveness and redemption as he helps these people. The rest of the themes are hard to explain in this review without giving away the film. It’s pretty easy to figure out.
The concept is interesting and Smith and Dawson are able to keep good chemistry between each other. If it wasn’t for the preachiness and illogical moments (especially the end), this film may have worked. What we have is a film that looks and sounds good on paper but disappointingly fails in front of a camera.

Rating: 2 stars (out of 4)

There are some reviews I am missing. Mini reviews of those coming soon.