Check Out the Trailer

This effective melodrama gives audiences the pre-requisite tear-jerking moments brought home with real heart from its leads Will Smith and Rosario Dawson. Moving from a captivating mystery in its first act to a sweet romance in its second, SEVEN POUNDS works at times like a broad parable and at other times like a sincere drama. In career best performances, Smith and Dawson bring to life this heavy material.

Ben Thomas (Smith, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS) is on a mission. We’re not sure exactly what that mission is at first, but it seems that he is trying to help people. Emily Posa (Dawson, CLERKS II) needs a heart transplant, and her medical bills have pilled up and she owes the IRS thousands of dollars. Ben arrives at the hospital to audit her; he eventually tells her that he will put a freeze on her account. She wonders why this stranger is being so nice to her. He shows up when she ends up back in the hospital, he comes over and does lawn work, but when she asks him about himself, he shies away. Ben will pay visits to others. His friend Dan (Barry Pepper, SCHINDLER’S LIST) is helping him with his mission, where he seeks out people to help.

In the first act, we peek into scenes without context. Why is Ben so mean to the blind telephone operator Ezra Turner (Woody Harrelson, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)? When did Ben leave his job as an aerospace engineer and become a tax collector? What happened to his wife? Why is he avoiding his brother (Michael Ealy, BARBERSHOP)? When the first act comes to a close most of these questions will be answered. What is left is how Ben’s relationship with Emily will change his mission.

Smith plays Ben as a shy, sad man with a great deal of pent up anger underneath. He’s lost faith in himself, and clings to those he finds who are good. He is searching for redemption for something that is plaguing his soul. Emily’s illness has disrupted her entire life. Sadly as it often happens, the sick lose their friends. People become awkward around sick people, not knowing how to act and not wanting to confront their own mortality. Her loneliness and Ben’s guilt and sadness, bring them together quickly. They are the hope that each other needs. Both actors bring great depth to their characters. Too bad the screenplay undermines their subtlety with standard plot points. Watch Dawson’s reaction to their first kiss. She’s saying something about what she wants, but knows she shouldn’t do considering her condition. It’s brilliant, honest acting that the screenplay and director ruin two scenes later.

SEVEN POUNDS is certainly an in-the-moment film. Smith and Dawson are so good that we believe in their characters. We believe their story. Even when the screenplay goes off the logic rails a bit in the end, it doesn’t bother us in the moment. The film wears its emotions on its sleeve and presents a moral quandary that will have you debating on the way out. How far would you go to save someone you loved?