Oh, thank God this film finally came out so I can stop weeping through the trailer. His six-year-old daughter died. That’s sad on an incomprehensible scale. You’re probably never going to get it without living it … and nobody would wish that on anybody. Are you ready to be sad? Really ready? In maladroit, mishandled fashion? Maybe this film is for you.
Once there was a thriving ad company started by Howard (Will Smith) and Whit (Edward Norton). Then Howard’s daughter died and three depressing years later all he does in come in to the office and play Domino Rally. Personally, I like the domino metaphor – just one little plink and the whole world crashes. I also dig coming to work just to set up dominoes, I mean, cool, right? What I am not cool with is Howard has a habit of plinking and walking; I don’t care if you don’t enjoy the domino waterfall, but you can warn the others, can’t you? “Dudes! Conference room in 5; Howard the Stuck is gonna plink!”
The officers of the company: Whit, Claire (Kate Winslet), and Simon (Michael Peña) are witnesses to their own slow-motion tragedy – without Howard’s leadership, or at least his sign-off, the company is going to fail. So they hire a P.I. to discredit Howard (believe it or not, these are all friends) and she finds that Howard is writing and mailing letters to the intangible entities of Love, Time and Death. (Do you suppose all the letters go to Venice?) And the trio of officers get a fab idea – what if we get some actors to play Love (Keira Knightley), Time (Jacob Latimore), and Death (Helen Mirren) and confront Howard with his pain?
Geez, it sounds so stupid when I write it out. Not only that, it sounds callous, too. Let the guy alone, will ya? Isn’t it bad enough his daughter died?
Weird imagining Death, Love and Time hanging out, huh? I mean Death is constantly in demand, taking souls, killing ideas and salesmen alike. Time is fleeting; sure, it’s on your side, but you can never get enough of it. Love may be all you need, but it only shows up when you’re not looking for it. Of the three, I think only Death would be at home in Manhattan.
Just to get your incredulity up to 11, do note that Death, Love and Time each pick a member of the conspiratorial trio to help along the way, and they’re all paid $20k a piece for their extra-worldly intervention, under the table of course. Say, are shady deals with surreal entities covered under RICO?
Collateral Beauty is about magic … the magic of the cosmos inspiring life from damaged souls. It plays better than it sounds. I see it as a charming personal film gone awry with the promise of commercial stardom. The manic depressive doesn’t have to be Will Smith; Love doesn’t have to be Keira Knightley.
While I find myself fond of Collateral Beauty for personal reasons, it is easy to see the flaws – you made a
picture about the Beauty of life that wasn’t bold enough to follow through on its premise. Just like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, this needs to be Howard’s personal quest. Alone. The film needed to establish from the very beginning that Time, Love and Death are indeed real entities, not actors, all pushing Howard back into the realm of the living. Once money exchanges hands, the tale cheapens and the clumsy sidebars of quests involving Whit, Claire and Simon detract from the focus – as a result, Howard’s time with Time is painfully limited. What is he supposed to learn from two brief exchanges? That Time hasn’t got time for the pain?
Collateral Beauty and Passengers are my biggest disappointments of the 2016 holiday season. The reason is obvious – the trailers were fantastic while the pictures were not. Neither, however, is a bad film and I think Time, Love and Death will forgive the pair. In Time.
♪Lying in my flat I contemplate life,
And think I’m through
Caught up in somber
Depression is nothing new
Play back, on tape
Like my own meth
In comes those three ghosts
Time, Love and
Sometimes I ride my bike
I’m wishing that I were dead
You’re calling to me, none else hears
What you’ve said.
Then you say, “Howard.
Just take a breath”
Must be out of my mind
If you’re lost and perhaps not quite all there
Time, Love and Death
Or maybe your “friends” showing that they “care”
Time, Love and Death♫
Rated PG-13, 97 Minutes
D: David Frankel
W: Allan Loeb
Genre: A modern Christmas Carol
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Those who have lost
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The untainted
♪ Parody inspired by “Time After Time”
