Collateral Beauty (Village Roadshow Pictures – 2016) Review

When a successful and enriched life suddenly falls in to tragedy, despair and depression, every person reacts a different way, in their own way.

Howard Inlet (Will Smith) is on top. He is co-owner of a successful New York Advertising Agency. Passionate about his craft, about his life, and then tragedy strikes his small family.

Dealing with grief, he retreats inwards. He stops caring about anything including himself and while his friends and his business suffers, Howard is oblivious to it all as he sinks even deeper in to depression.

His business partner Whit Yardsham (Edward Norton) becomes not only concerned about his friend but also the Agency that they both built together, which is falling in to disrepute without Howard functioning.

So Whit hires a Private Investigator to see what Howard’s routines are and along with two other senior Agency staff; Simon Scott (Michael Peña) and Claire Wilson (Kate Winslet) he hires three Theater actors to play the parts of Death (Helen Mirren), Love (Keira Knightley) and Time (Jacob Latimore). The three things that Howard always lived by and believed in before the tragedy.

It’s discovered that Howard was writing letters of contempt to Love, Death and Time and mailing them. As Howard goes about his usual routine of sitting alone in a Dog Park and cycling around New York’s central city he is approached by the three actors one at a time, at differing times, as they seek to ‘snap’ him out of his tragic trance like state. It is their job to make Howard believe that only he can see these three ‘Entities’.

Whit, Simon and Claire’s ultimate motive is to make Howard believe that he is going crazy, so that he will sell his share in the Agency.

As the film progresses through it’s deep and emotional narrative you learn of Whit’s own personal demons aswell as Simon and Claire’s.

Collateral Beauty is a film that everyone will take something from. How those close to you can become like a stranger, how to deal with grief, loss and the mechanisms to come back from it.

It’s the acting that makes this film so immersive. Will Smith, Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren give outstanding performances as you are drawn in to their character’s lives.

The film will spark your emotions and have you shed a tear or two while making you realise that whatever you have going on in your life, there are others out there that either have similar or worse issues to deal with and come to terms with.

Collateral Beauty is about how everything is connected and with this film, you cannot help but also feel the connection. An absolute must watch.

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