Collateral Beauty

First Hit:  Wonderful concept, wonderful cast, mediocre execution.

The idea that someone could talk with Love, Time and Death is interesting. Having a cast with Will Smith (as Howard), Edward Norton (as Whit), Kate Winslet (as Claire), Michael Pena (as Simon), Helen Mirren (as Brigitte and Death), Keira Knightly (as Amy and Love), Jacob Latimore (as Raffi and Time), and Naomie Harris (as Madeleine) all in one film is amazing. However, there was something about the script and way it was directed that had this film fall short of its potential.

The title “Collateral Beauty” was also at fault in some ways. Normally when we hear the word “collateral” we hear it with the word “damage”. This term is used in the movie as a lesson or mantra that Madeleine hears after the loss of her child. When she was in the hospital, just prior to her daughter’s death, an old woman sitting next to her outside her dying child’s room said, do not be so taken by grief that you forget to see the collateral beauty. The movie does nothing to really show what this means.

The focus of the film is that Howard, who is a brilliant advertising creative executive, loses his young 6-year old daughter to a disease. The company he’s built with Whit, Claire and Simon begins to suffer and is now losing clients because of his disengagement with work. He spends his days building domino trails then knocking them down, or riding his bike at night through the streets of New York City. To save their company and investments Whit, Claire and Simon arrange to have Amy, Raffi and Brigitte pretend to be Love, Time and Death respectively in hopes of communicating with Howard to bring him out of his deep sorrow.

Although this is done with some seriousness, the constructs and building of the story is weak. When the words and concept of "Collateral Beauty" are passed from Madeleine to Howard, the failure to engage the audience and Howard are palpable. It is at this point I realized that this film, regardless of how it finishes, would be lack luster.

Smith was OK as the once engaging advertising company creator, leader and grieving father. Norton was slightly better as Howard’s business partner. Winslet was fine as the morally caring business partner. Pena was very good as the ill business executive who cares about his family. Knightly was good as Love. Mirren was very good as Death, her style brought strength to the film. Latimore was strong as Time. Harris was very strong as the grieving mother. Allan Loeb wrote a weak screenplay in that the characters lacked depth and the story never grew. Direction by David Frankel was weak in that he never saw the failings of the story to find ways to make it have more depth. The film never really shared the beauty of a child’s depth which, in this case, was supposed to be collateral.

Overall:  Although somewhat engaging at the beginning, it fails to fulfill any beauty collateral or not.

Hope Springs

First Hit:  Poignant and well-acted film about how love and real romance begins with communication.

Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) have been married for 31 years, sleep in separate rooms, and barely talk to each other.

Arnold complains or is critical about everything and appears to always be worried about spending money – he’s a tax accountant. Kay is a housewife with a part-time job in a clothing store. Kay is unhappy with the whole situation while Arnold seems complacent with the status quo. Kay decides to seek the assistance of Dr. Feld (Steve Carell) who helps couples re-find their magic through communication.

Kay throws down the gauntlet to Arnold by telling him, she’ll be on the plane and he can choose to go or not. Through Dr. Feld’s sessions Arnold and Kay struggle and learn to find their love and caring for each other again.

The story is filled with the truth of what happens to couples when they quit communicating with each other. Each person is stuck in their own comfort zone and struggling to find a way to move forward as their life is reaching their later stages.

The fearless quality of the script to have this couple in dialogue about real issues was fantastic. The acting by both Streep and Jones was outstanding.

Carell showed honest restraint while facilitating the direct discussion with dialogue between the couple with pointed questions.

The only fault I found with the film was that I didn’t believe that Jones and Streep had any real or believable romantic and physical chemistry. But this didn’t take away from the point of the film.

Streep was perfect as the woman who followed or, maybe better, acquiesced to her husband’s path for their life together as demonstrated by accepting of a water heater for Christmas. Jones was fantastic as a man who has insulated himself from life especially his wife. He’s loyal but he ignores her. Carell is really good here as a therapist and enjoyed the way he portrayed Dr. Feld. Elizabeth Shue had a minor role as Karen, a bartender in a Maine seaside bar, and it made me wish she was doing more films – she was really engaging. Vanessa Taylor wrote an outstanding script. David Frankel did a great job of bringing a pointed script to life and it has got to help when you have two actors like Streep and Jones.

Overall:  This was a thoroughly enjoyable film.

The Big Year

First Hit:  Moderately funny and insightful as to the phenomena of bird watching.

Bird watching may be a passive pursuit but Americans will make a competition out of anything and here we witness the competition at its finest, worst, and funniest.

Brad Harris (played by Jack Black) is working at an IT job he doesn’t enjoy. His real love is bird watching and one day he wants to do a “Big Year”. Stu Preissler (played by Steve Martin) is an extremely successful businessman, loves bird watching, and itches to get out of his CEO role and into doing a “Big Year.”

Kenny Bostick (played by Owen Wilson) is the record holder for “The Big Year” with 732 different North American bird sightings in one year. Birders do not tell each other that they are doing a “Big Year” because they don’t want someone else to know they are trying for the most sightings in a year.

The focus of this film is relationship building and understanding priorities. Brad’s dad thinks Brad is wasting his life being interested in birds. The scene when his dad and he find an owl, the sighting brings reconciliation and resolves years of pain. Stu keeps getting called back by his lieutenants to fix their incompetence but he learns that his supportive wife and new grandchild mean more than his work.

Bostick is obsessive about his record and he is good at counting birds. The issues are that he puts his record over his wife’s wanting to have a baby. The scenes around his decisions reflect cruelty, obsessiveness, and thoughtlessness.

There is humor along the way but I found the film more dramatic than of comedic based. The strongest aspects of this film are informing the audience about how various weather phenomena affect bird migration behavior.

This film has education built into it and during the credits we get to see slides of all the 755 Bostick gets in this new “Big Year.”

Black was good as the guy who is stuck doing a job he doesn’t like but trying to find a way to do what he wants. Martin really fits the role as a cool rich business tycoon who realizes that life is more than his work. Wilson is perfect as the guy who can argue and reason his abhorrent behavior with wit and in the end feel his sadness. Howard Franklin wrote a smart screenplay that was moderately funny. David Frankel’s direction was clear and crisp enough to make this perceived boring subject exciting.

Overall: This was a good, educational and fun film to watch.