We Are All Connected...
After
a successful advertising executive suffers a tragic loss and retreats
from life, his concerned friends try desperately to reconnect with him.
When he decides to seek answers from the universe, the unexpected
personal responses help him to understand how meaning can be found in
the moments of heartache.
Howard
Inlet is an advertising executive at one of the most successful ad
firms in New York, but after the death of a loved one he withdraws from
his remaining friendships and life in general. Whit Yardsham is a part
of Howard’s firm and his best friend, who is trying get through to him
while dealing a divorce and the fact that he is now estranged from his
daughter. Claire Wilson is another co-worker and friend of Howard who
has been personally delivering food to his apartment in hopes of getting
through to him as she deals with her longing to start a family on her
own. Simon Scott is the last of Howard’s close friends working at the
company who needs him to agree to a deal that would be best for the
company and allow him the peace of mind that his family would be taken
care of after his death.
Collateral
Beauty is one of those movies that feels like it would be better told
in a medium other than motion pictures. The story works well and tugs on
the heart strings at the appropriate time, but I could not shake the
feeling that this film would have been more entertaining as a book or a
play. The acting talent on the display here is undeniable as they are
able to bring a certain spark to dialogue that could be considered sappy
in lesser hands. David Frankel is able to give this movie a cinematic
feel in places that a less experienced director would have fallen into
Hallmark Channel movie of the week level melodrama. The structure of
this story by Allan Loeb gives to impression of a script that was meant
for the stage instead of the screen in the way certain emotional leaps
are taken by characters which could be conveyed with a simple close-up. I
could see where the movie was coming from and where it wanted to go,
but the journey it took us on was slightly flawed.
I rate this movie a 3
out of 5.
In Theaters
See other reviews by Rouén HERE.
Rouén Robinson has been an
avid moviegoer since childhood and has been critiquing motion pictures
for almost a decade. He has been a film critic for
The Cinemas on Tempo and was a judge for
FLIFF On Location: Grand Bahama Island, an off shoot of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF). Rouén lives in Grand Bahama and can be reached at redr1976@icloud.com and on Twitter @thereelrouen
