Will Smith's Seven Pounds: Touched by an auditor
'Seven Pounds' proves that Will Smith has matured enormously as a screen actor, even though the film amounts to little more than a series of effective acting exercises.
Seven Pounds could have been made for anyone who ever said, “Oh, that Will Smith is so good, I could watch him in anything.” That anonymous fan should have been more specific, because Seven Pounds presents one of the world’s biggest movie stars acting his heart out in practically nothing in particular.
Smith reunites with his Pursuit of Happyness director Gabriele Muccino for an ambitious but maddeningly enigmatic drama that withholds key information from the audience for nearly its entire running time. Since we never know exactly what’s going on until the end, we spend Seven Pounds in a state of mild frustration. The film offers a fine showcase for Smith’s maturity as a screen actor, but feels more like a series of effective acting exercises.