Although the story wobbles at times, Seven Pounds stays the course thanks to Muccino's skilled direction.
Comment
01/08/09
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
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 CriticThe film's most abiding mystery lies in the question of why it ever got made.
01/08/09
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 CriticEven by the standards of gotcha flicks, Seven Pounds seems especially somnolent and pretentious.
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 CriticIt'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
12/22/08
Top CriticMuccino lays on the melodrama so thick that I felt like I needed a shower by the end, and instead of shedding a tear, I couldn't wait to get out of the theater.
12/19/08
Love or hate the film, Smith's performance in Seven Pounds is one of his best.
12/19/08
Only the most morbidly inattentive viewer could possibly fail to figure out virtually every twist in the story from details supplied in the first five minutes.
12/22/08
A clumsily melodramatic movie that tells us too much too soon and forces us to sit through endless morose vacuousness.
03/10/09
But even without the head-shaker ending, the movie would have been a failure due to Smith's lackadaisical performance.
12/18/08
It's only Smith's performance that makes the tears worth crying.
12/17/08
...a dumb movie put together by people who think they're a lot smarter than their prospective audience.
12/19/08
Seven Pounds is a clever one, all right, but it might actually be too clever for its own good.
12/18/08
That big twist at the end... if you go back and analyze it -- I’m not sure it holds up, but I don’t think it really matters all that much.
12/22/08
I think it’s just kind of average but Rosario Dawson is great and worthy of some type of recognition throughout this award show season.
12/22/08
The film, while slow moving, is worth the wait for the emotional payoff.
12/24/08
Smith is more likable the less he tries to make us like him.
12/17/08
Smith’s quest is the worst kind of sentimental gimmick: He’s like Oskar Schindler and Oprah rolled into one. But credit Smith and Pursuit Of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino for keeping the tone solemn and muted.
12/19/08
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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