It's the kind of premise that a writer will lovingly nurture and probe, but it fails the truth test. As a love story it's unsatisfactory and as a redemption story it's slightly ridiculous
2 Comments
12/22/08
Seven Pounds (2008)
27
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:172
Fresh:47
Rotten:125
Average Rating:4.6/10
Consensus: Grim and morose, Seven Pounds is also undone by an illogical plot.
Australian Rating: TBC
Genre: Dramas
Australian Theatrical Release:
Jan 8, 2009 Wide
US Box Office: $69,951,824
Synopsis: Academy Award® nominee Will Smith reunites with the directors and producers of The Pursuit of Happyness for the emotional drama Seven Pounds. In the film, Smith plays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent with... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Barry Pepper
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Reviews for Seven Pounds
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticEven by the standards of gotcha flicks, Seven Pounds seems especially somnolent and pretentious.
01/08/09
Top CriticNeither literal poetry nor the reliable charm of Will Smith can save his character from the folly of screenwriter Grant Nieporte’s deeply flawed premise.
01/08/09
Top CriticMorality has never seemed as arduous as in this morbidly drawn, intense drama filled with questions and pretension - even the charismatic Smith cannot save this absurd tale
12/22/08
Top CriticThere is indeed a secret, but it is not overly challenging to work out what's going on in this annoying film.
01/09/09
Top CriticThe film's most abiding mystery lies in the question of why it ever got made.
01/08/09
Top CriticAlthough the story wobbles at times, Seven Pounds stays the course thanks to Muccino's skilled direction.
01/08/09
Top CriticClick to read the article
04/23/09
Click to read the article
02/27/09
Too often the movie's preposterous ideas of goodly sacrifice blur the line between altruism and self-importance.
12/19/08
Top CriticClick to read the article
01/16/09
Top CriticSeven Pounds is Will trying to be weighty but unlike The Pursuit Of Happyness (also directed by Muccino) it doesn’t work.
01/16/09
Top CriticI would tell you to go out and see it for yourself, but you might take that as a recommendation rather than a plea for corroboration. Did I really see what I thought I saw?
12/19/08
Top CriticDirector Gabriele Muccino seems to think he's in Ingmar Bergman territory, but he's actually made the longest, most dour episode of My Name is Earl imaginable.
12/16/08
The film closes on a meeting between two characters that’s now wayyyy high on my list of weirdest moments in cinema. It is, I think, supposed to be touching.
12/19/08
Will Smith stars with aliens and zombies and superheros, yet this is his first film that's wholly unbelievable.
12/18/08
a diffuse and disjointed effort
12/28/08
Soppy romance and excruciating piety cling to the film like bindweed, summoning the ghost of sobfest Pay It Forward, with the divine parallels of self-sacrifice taken to extremes of righteous absurdity.
01/16/09
Throughout Seven Pounds, Smith looks tired and drawn but not half as weary as audiences who subject themselves to this, the year’s least-enjoyable movie concept.
12/17/08
A contrived, thrill-less thriller that's more concerned about its inane gimmicks than about keeping you truly riveted, engrossed or enlightened.
01/31/09
Latest News for Seven Pounds
January 16, 2009:
UK Critics Consensus: The Wrestler Pile-drives The Critics, But Don’t Waste any £s on Seven Pounds
With critical success for Slumdog Millionaire last week (94%), we have more award-friendly fare in the UK cinemas this Friday in Darren Aronofsky's spandex-tastic The Wrestler.... More...
December 28, 2008:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: Marley Takes #1, The Spirit Tanks
This weekend people were in the mood for movies over Christmas weekend as multiplexes were jam-packed with customers that powered four different new releases to more than $30M... More...
December 22, 2008:
Will Smith as widower wracked with guilt. 
More...
December 21, 2008:
Smith, in his typical impressive pressure cooker character fashion, is a nervous wreck suicidal IRS agent who raises pet jellyfish, and seems to enjoy harassing when not stalking his clients. Paging Dr. Kevorkian.
More...
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