Collateral Beauty (2016)

My Review

Will Smith plays a man who deals with his daughter’s death by writing letters to Love, Time, and Death in “Collateral Beauty.” He is surprised when the trio answer in person, at different times, of course. Director David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada” 2006) and script writer Allan Loeb obviously took great pains to instill this movie with good production values. They succeed on that point but fail in the originality department, with “Collateral Beauty” being a blatant non-Christmas version of “A Christmas Carol” (1938, 1951) and “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946).

The cast includes Will Smith in the lead role, Kiera Knightly as Love, Jacob Latimore as Time, Helen Mirren as Death, Kate Winslet, Michael Pena, Edward Norton as Will’s business partners, Naomie Harris as a grief support group leader, and Ann Dowd as a private investigator. “Collateral Beauty” was a box office bomb for New Line Cinema, Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Pictures. It was filmed solely on Manhattan Island, and received one nomination for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Combo – The entire cast of “once respected actors.”