The opening shot depicts a man with a telephone talking to 911. Ben (Will Smith) says there's been a suicide, his own. SEVEN POUNDS follows Ben around as he seems to be looking for something specific about people he encounters. We see flashbacks of his life and, later rather than sooner, we realize that he is impersonating a government official as a way in to learn about people's lives. I found it kewl to be uninformed about his reason for calling 911. I needed to know who he was so it forced me to pay careful attention to what I was observing and that is what the director wanted. There are moving scenes, touching moments in this visceral production and they pay off. Some may think this is overwrought but to have witnessed what happens to a soul when his world caves in on him is art to me, and real. This allowed me to examine life and to understand the gift it is to us. Still don't know what the title refers to but it didn't matter after what my spirit absorbed. [4.2 stars]
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