In all honesty, I really wanted to like Collateral Beauty. I have a soft spot for Will Smith (I am one of the few people who actually enjoyed Suicide Squad) and the film has a huge amount of acting talent including Edward Norton, Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren! How could it possibly suck? Well, it turns out that Collateral Beauty is not only incredibly schmaltzy and sentimental, but it also has the most ridiculous premise of the entire year (and not in a good way).
Collateral Beauty revolves around a successful advertising executive (Will Smith) who becomes isolated and depressed, following the death of his daughter. Through his grieving process, he begins to write to love, death and time, who he unexpectedly begins to encounter in the real world. Sounds ridiculous right? Well, the film only gets more convoluted and preposterous as it goes on.
The film is incredibly odd, as it features terrific performances from a truly awful screenplay. Will Smith, Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet do their best to try to elevate the material, but unfortunately fall short. The film suffers from poor characterisation, preposterous plot-twists and incredibly slow pacing. In fact, if this didn’t have an A-list cast, I’m positive that this would end up as another Lifetime-channel movie.
Overall, Collateral Beauty is an early contender for the worst film of 2017 and should be avoided at all costs.
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