Seven Pounds (Dir: Gabriele Muccino)

Is Ben Thomas's story a tale of redemption or tragedy? The film has its opinion and I my own. Seven Pounds gets it wrong.

Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is an IRS agent investigating those who owe back taxes. He appears to be very unstable, assaulting unscrupulous nursing home proprietors, abusing telemarketers, and stalking hospital patients. Is there a method to his madness? The film wants to tell the story of a man steadfast in his quest, but it is actually the story of a man in desperate need of help.

Had director Muccino, who also helmed the taut Pursuit of Happyness, taken a less sentimental tone in the film's denouement, the audience might be left with an interesting moral question with which to wrestle. Instead Thomas's quest is ultimately viewed as noble and life affirming. It's a disturbing message passed along too haphazardly. Somewhere in this morally confused morass there are interesting questions about pragmatism and the value of life, but the movie is myopic when it needs to be panoramic.

The film also has some more mundane problems such as sluggish pacing. As we wait for Ben's quest to be made more clear, he moves from one seemingly disconnected encounter to the next. There is mystery in these encounters and the attentive viewer will begin to put all the pieces together, but you may also find yourself getting antsy as you wait for a pattern to emerge. The film sacrifices some needed dramatic urgency in order to preserve its mystery.

And in the end you may find yourself compelled to tears and desire to reflect on the nobility of Ben Thomas. This is as the filmmaker intended. But when you step further away from the theater, you may also find yourself deeply disturbed. I know I was.