The film, Collateral Beauty, tells the story of Howard Inlet, played by Will Smith.  Howard’s daughter passed away at only six years old, and Howard is absolutely destroyed.  In order to cope during the holiday season, Howard, who was a very successful New York advertising executive prior to the tragedy, writes letters to Love, Time, and Death.  To Howard’s surprise, not only do the three respond, but they respond in person.

Will Smith’s performance as Howard was completely mesmerizing.  Those who are familiar with Smith due to previous roles in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or Men in Black may have been skeptical of his ability to pull off such a dramatic character, but, if the audible sniffles in the audience were any indication, he succeeded.  Smith gave the audience an honest look at the pain of losing a child, which can affect people even during the happiest time of year.

The cast also boasted many familiar faces, including Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, and Edward Norton.  Although Will Smith truly stole the show, all members of the cast brought a sophistication to their role that allowed the story to come to life.

The plot also featured several unconventional twists.  Over the course of the film, Howard developed a friendship with a woman named Madeleine, who led a support group for parents who had lost a child.  She divorced her husband following the death of her daughter and shows Howard a note that her husband wrote that says, “if only we could be strangers again…”.  At the end of the movie, Howard is revealed to be Madeleine’s ex-husband and the audience had actually watched the two meet as strangers for a second time, bonded only by the loss of a child.

Additionally, the individuals portraying Love, Time, and Death were only actors hired by Howard’s business partners to prove his insanity.  However, at the end of the movie, the audience was left to question if perhaps they had been supernatural all along and had come to help all of the characters, not just Howard.

HHS alum Hannah Jensen admits that she “saw the twists coming, but the movie still made [her] emotional.”

Although at moments the actions of the characters were fairly unbelievable and even forced to allow for the plot conventions to succeed, the film did offer a very honest take on grief.  Many of the characters were experiencing some sort of difficulty in their life and were learning how best to cope.  Overall, senior Emma-Leigh Lamonde captured it perfectly when she said that the film had “a deeply thought-provoking concept with a phenomenal cast that brought to life such an examination of humanity.”