Seven Pounds

Aroview: Will Smith pairs up again with dir. Muccino (THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS) to play a man who attempts to save the lives of seven strangers in order to relieve himself from a guilty conscience.

The premise here is strong and its message admirable, although the film is bogged down with a convoluted, melodramatic screenplay that struggles to find its genre (is it a mystery? A romance? A redemption film?), leaving the eventual payoff less punchy than it could have been; nonetheless, Smith offers up a quiet, nuanced performance that is such a departure from his usual quip-spouting comic it's difficult not to be hooked into his messy plight.