Collateral Beauty

It's interesting to watch this after seeing "Manchester by the Sea". Both films tackle the difficult subject of how a father grieves the loss of his child or children. I would argue that what we see from Will Smith in this film is the "typical" depiction of grief. Not that that's bad - Smith is excellent here. The way he allows grief to flow through his eyes without a word is tremendous and very heartbreaking. However, if one studies grief in men, one will find that, in fact, how Affleck portrayed grief is far closer to the truth for most fathers who have lost children. Knowing that, and having recently seen Affleck give that amazing performance, I had a hard time falling into this film. The plot was very banal - I saw nearly all the turns in it a mile away. The acting outside of Smith was only above average, and the dialogue forced. Maybe if Casey Affleck weren't still living in my head I would have reacted differently, but that's why Affleck won the Oscar and Smith wasn't even nominated I think. For me, this was just okay. 3/5

Collateral Beauty on Netflix