It seems like months since HBO had something on a Saturday night that I actually wanted to watch. It kinda made me feel like I only get HBO for Game of Thrones, even though that would be fine they do promise a bunch of new movies. None of them are usually what I want to watch, but finally this movie came along and I had wanted to see it since it was in the movie theater but never got the chance. I heard mixed reviews going in and was a little unsure, keep reading to see if I ended up enjoying it or not.
Collateral Beauty is about Howard, played by Will Smith, who kind of has it all. He runs a successful business with his business partner Whit, played by Edward Norton, and their other associates Simon, played by Michael Pena, and Claire, played by Kate Winslet, and has the perfect life. Cut to three years later where his daughter is dead and basically so is Howard. The once successful company is going under as he can’t come to terms with his daughters death. Whit, Simon, and Claire have tried to intervene multiple times unsuccessfully until they learn that he’s been writing grief letters to Love, Time, and Death. Deciding to have three actors, played by Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, and Jacob Latimore, take on these roles and confront Howard, they not only try to help Howard but maybe learn some lessons about themselves.
You totally need a box of Kleenex. Without any spoilers, you probably know this movie is going to be sad because it’s about a man that loses his daughter, but I never expected to be crying for the whole movie. I mean seriously, there’s maybe a few minutes where I didn’t cry, but the rest of the movie was an absolute sob fest.
Through the tears, I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie. I think the reviews that I read about this movie were kind of wrong and maybe didn’t understand the whole point of the movie. To me this movie wasn’t just about Howard. It was also about Whit, Claire, and Simon who are going through the same struggles as Howard as each of them deal with Love, Time, and Death. Each of them will struggle although their main goal is to help Howard. I could go further into details but I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet. That being said, not only is it a good movie, but it’s a movie that will make you think as well. The only real problem that I had with this movie was that even though it was long, I never felt myself looking at the time, I wish it would have wrapped up a few more stories a little bit better than it did. Other than that everything came together nicely.
Star studded casts can go two ways. It can either be great, or it can be really horrible. This went the first way and was really great as each actor was perfectly chosen for the part that they played. The cast worked together well and it was believable that they were people who cared about each other and genuinely wanted to help one another.
Overall I give this movie a 5 out of 5.
This is a really great movie and it proves that not all the reviews are right. It’s not my favorite movie because it’s really sad and it’s one of those movies that you watch once for the experience and never watch again, but it’s defiantly worth the watch. Not only is this movie sad and will have you crying, but it will also have you thinking as well as you watch and piece together all of the little pieces of this movie to get the real meaning of the movie out of it. I would say to not pass this one up and judge it for yourself.
1 Broke Gamer Girl 