Review: "Collateral Beauty"
Thursday, December 15, 2016 at 7:30PM 
by Chris Feil
When the aliens discover Earth, long after the ice caps have melted, I hope we leave a time capsule that includes Collateral Beauty to explain ourselves. No seriously: there's something to the film's off-handed cruelty and blasé emotional platitudes that shows how dunderheaded we humans can be. However this is only one of the film's many accidents, coming from its lack of self-awareness rather than its content. Collateral Beauty thinks itself holistic and clever, but its actually deeply, fundamentally stupid.
Which is not to say you should avoid it. Collateral Beauty isn't the punishing misfire you will find elsewhere at the multiplex like Nocturnal Animals, it's much more of a fascinating failure. Maybe "so bad they're good" movies might not be your thing, but this one's defiance of logic makes it unmissable.
From its trailers, you likely have a very different idea of the film than what it actually is, which in turn only makes the film stranger for how it upends your expectations. For starters the embodiments of Death (Helen Mirren), Love (Keira Knightley), and Time (Jacob Latimore) aren't from the spirit realm at all. They're actually actors hired to stalk and surprise a grieving father (Will Smith) so that his colleague friends (Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, and Michael Peña) can dismantle him from his own company. Most of the film isn't actually greeting card moroseness, instead it functions largely as the kind of dopey comedy that finds such deception hilarious. (Collateral Beauty is directed by David Frankel, who has with this and The Devil Wears Prada cornered the market on movies featuring garbage friends.)
If that sounds spoilery or over complex, keep in mind this is revealed well within the film's first twenty minutes.
Eventually, the maudlin does come and its as extra gloopy and overwrought as you expect. The best thing the film has going for it is its large cast that rolls with every sharp turn in tone and absurdity. Similarly, you kind of have to admire that the film does stick to its guns water pistols - at least it commits to concept, no matter how clunky or fatal its swan dive. Some genuine feeling could have done a lot of good, but instead the emotions are as labored and manufactured as the script's obviousness allows.
It's not simply that the film is bad - in my estimation, not even the worst of the year - but it is the type of bad that makes you wonder how it even exists. A lot of smart minds went into making a very daffy picture that includes with two wonky tagged-on twists and the most hilarious repeated use of its title. You can feel the longer version that exists on the cutting room floor from all its manic tangents. But Collateral Beauty remains an inexplicable delight, even if for all the wrong reasons.
Grade: D
Reader Comments (18)
Obviously there is no way on earth I am watching this but all these fine actors really need to be penalized somehow for agreeing to attach their names to this. I mean there are people who look for Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren for quality. The hell has happened here? Why? This is not a misfire, this sounds atrocious at conception.
I'm gonna pass on this. Another thing I noticed is how this and Passengers, two movies with apparently deceptive marketing that feature star power, come out at the same time.
the difference between Cate and Kate:
*When Cate experiments she does Terrence Malick
*When Kate tries to she does a Will Smith movie
always go by director, always!
Man, I knew this was going to be bad. Will Smith's having a bad year. That's what he gets for pimping out his untalented kids to the public.
The studio knew what they had on their hands...no advance guild screenings this fall.
I am loving the bad reviews for this film and Passengers. They are just so satisfying to read for some reason. Maybe I am turning into a horrible person.
For starters the embodiments of Death (Helen Mirren), Love (Keira Knightley), and Time (Jacob Latimore) aren't from the spirit realm at all. They're actually actors hired to stalk and surprise a grieving father (Will Smith) so that his colleague friends (Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, and Michael Peña) can dismantle him from his own company.
Oh, wow...that's extremely disappointing/obnoxiously ugly. Like, that was my main draw to this! And it turns out to be that?! Gross.
I feel the reception of this and Passengers like a preview of Ocean's Eight.
I love the observation that David Frankel "has cornered the market on garbage friends".
As for why this script was made, it was a highly touted screenplay. So a lot of people thought it looked good on paper.
Shame it didn't work out, Will Smith really is on a downward slide.
I realise the intention was the exact opposite, but the horrible reviews for this movie have been so funny they convinced me to see it.
I have no time for Will Smith or his celebrity "Brand",There's Helen Mirren playing Helen Mirren again with the same uninflected voice she has used in every film since the Queen,talk about a grab for cash,Why is Winslet wasting her time with this film ,Knightley just had a baby so she's taking it easy till she wins her Oscar in the future, and Norton know better,I mean I thought Norton was back on track after Birdman.
Wow, the reviews are harsh for this film. Even "worst movie of the year" reviews.
daddy norton wyd
The trailer makes it seem like a sort of modern "A Christmas Carol"
Cal - It's actually worse than that (or maybe better, depending on your point of view - it's hard to explain without going into spoilers). But basically, just when you think this movie literally could not get any dumber, it surprises you.
Let's give Will Smith a break. He suffered a 'Concussion' last year, which is really the only way I can explain his inexplicably misguided choice in projects lately.
that Death, Love and Life were going to be actors was already induced in the trailer, and actually underlined by IMDB's cast - characters data.
However, that Winslet, Peña and Norton were going to be playing such a scum, should have been the twist ending in the last 20 minutes of the film, and to have been done in a smarter fashion. Yeah, I wonder why this was even greenlighted in the first place, and only explain the excellent cast involvement because they would have some kind of compromise or were fooled to sign, by mentioning the workmates they would have.
I am sure I would be ostracized for saying this, but the real problem with Collateral Beauty - is not with the movie - it your expectations about the movie.
Most of the reviews are way too harsh.. It's the trailer that set incorrect expectations.
However, for anyone, struggling with the three cores of the movie - Love, Time. Death - and that includes all of us, it movie is like a soothing balm. A beauty. Collateral beauty