COLLATERAL BEAUTY – This movie had warmth, depth and surprisingly, humor. It’s about Howard Inlet (Will Smith), a successful New York advertising executive whose six-year old daughter had died. Howard reacts to his loss by emotionally shutting down.
With a combination of self-serving motive and genuine concern for Howard, his best friends/business partners, Whit, Claire and Simon (Ed Norton, Kate Winslet and Michael Pena) stage their own type of quirky intervention when they discover Howard was writing (and mailing) letters addressed to LOVE, TIME and DEATH.
Without giving away the story, which had several layers subtly crafted together so that the ending was thought provoking and inspirational, I was touched by all the characters, each, individually, needing to confront LOVE (portrayed by Keira Knightly), TIME (portrayed by Jacob Latimore) and DEATH (portrayed by Helen Mirren).
The acting was fabulous, of course, and if you ever watched the television show “Joan of Arcadia” (starring Amber Tamblyn, Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen, and Jason Ritter) you will appreciate COLLATERAL BEAUTY as much as Stewart (that’s right, Stewart) and I did.
Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: David Frankel
Screenplay: Allan Loeb
Producers: Allan Loeb, Kevin Scott Frakes, Michael Sugar, Anthony Bregman, Bard Dorros
Will Smith – Howard Inlet
Edward Norton – Whit
Kate Winslet – Claire
Michael Pena – Simon
Helen Mirren – Brigitte
Naomie Harris – Madeleine
Keira Knightley – Amy
Jacob Latimore – Raffi
Ann Dowd – Sally Price
Kylie Rogers – Allison