Collateral Beauty

Many critics will complain about emotional manipulation, but I share Roger Ebert’s view: “Some people like to be emotionally manipulated. I do, when it’s done well.” I think “Beauty” does it well.

If “Collateral” fails to move you — and it might, because I was untouched — it may have to do with the clumsy clockwork machinations of a script that has to make its entire unholy and unethical premise seem “logical” and understandable.

Collateral Beauty is a Hallmark tear-jerker in the worst way, so out of tune with human emotion that it almost becomes satire.

This wildly distasteful premise is meant to be cute and enlightening, like a modern Frank Capra flick, but this is hardly "It's a Wonderful Life." Instead, the movie keeps tripping over itself.

Collateral Beauty is a fraud. It is built on a foundation so contrived, so off-putting, so treacly, the most miraculous thing about this movie is this movie was actually made.

This horrifyingly yucky, toxically cutesy ensemble dramedy creates a Chernobyl atmosphere of manipulative sentimentality, topped off with an ending which M Night Shyamalan might reject as too ridiculous.

Maybe you'll be at a dinner. Maybe nobody will believe you. Or maybe they will, and someone will say, "Hollywood is terrible at making movies about trauma.”

This is one of the movies that you need to look for and think about the message being offered. Leave out the notion that money can buy everything. Friendship knows no bounds and to give anything, including money to see someone you love and care about get the help and compassion they need. This is about grief and how each one of us goes through it differently. The loss of a child is ultimately harder to grieve through since life is just starting for them. I give this movie a 10 because I felt the underlying message. Twists and sappy content aside, look at the grieving process and those around the on grieving. We all hurt when our friends and loved ones hurt. Compassion and the willingness to go to any length to help is what this society is missing today. Death is very difficult to process and work through. The emotion these three friends show is a testament to the humanity that is still alive in this crazy world. How far would you go to bring a friend back from the brink...

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Remember when everybody said that "Gods of Egypt" and "Independence Day: Resurgence" are the worst movies of 2016. Well, along comes this turd. When I saw the trailer for "Collateral Beauty", I thought it's going to be a modern day "A Christmas Carol". I mean, it looked like it could be an emotional movie, despite looking Oscar bait. It's not until I saw the movie and the actual plot. Here the real plot: A successful New York advertising (Will Smith) executive suffers a great tragedy, he retreats from life. He goes to work and builds elaborate Domino sets then watches them collapse while he refuses to communicate with other people. His co-workers react to this by hiring actors to pretend to be Death, Love and Time so they can film him talking to them then editing them out the video so it looks like he's mentally unstable to be a shareholder. Yes, that's the actual plot to the movie and it's awful. No wonder the trailer false advert this, because who would want to see this. How the hell did this get made? And why are there so many big name actors involved? I think this and "Nine Lives" are the biggest WTF movies of 2016. I just can't get my head around this. These Oscar winners & nominees agreed to be in this? "Collateral Beauty" isn't just the worse movie of 2016, but of the 21st century. What a cruel, heartless, boring, Oscar bait trash of a film. It's the worse kind of Oscar bait, as it ticks all the boxes for the purpose of earning nominations for Academy Award. What's worse is that title of the movie "Collateral Beauty" is literally said six times in the movie, but yet, I have no idea what it's suppose to mean. And frankly, I don't give a damn. This is once again another Will Smith Oscar bait movie. There was "Seven Pounds", "Concussion", and now "Collateral Beauty". If I have to pick this or "Suicide Squad", for his worse movie yet, this easily takes the cake. Smith himself isn't really the leading man, but neither supporting. At least the rest of the actors are actually trying, as the performance in this are not bad. But that's the only "good" thing I can say about this. Overall rating: This movie can go **** itself.