At the Movies with Fatwayne

I just kept thinking “where is this movie going”?  That was at the beginning and towards the middle I was thinking the same thing. I had my theories but they turned out to be off the mark. This is a dark and moody drama and despite some lucky results for a few of the characters, I was not in a happy mood when I exited the theater.

It would not be fair of me to get into the movie too deeply without being a spoiler.  That being the case, I will just give you a feel for some of the people in the story. Will Smith plays an IRS agent named Ben Thomas. Ben is charming and has an engaging smile.  He is also mysterious and melancholy.  He spends his days observing and visiting several people on the pretense of discussing their problems with the IRS.  What he is really up to is determining if these people are worthy of the gifts he has the power to bestow on them, thus changing their lives forever.

One of these people is Emily Posa who is engagingly played by Rosario Dawson.  She is in a lot of trouble both financially and health wise and needs a friend.  When Ben calls on her and eventually comes to know her, a relationship begins to develop.  She soon becomes frustrated because she just can’t seem to get close to Ben or to get him to share “who he is” with her.

That is about as far as I am willing to go with the plot.  At this time in the movie we still do not know what the heck is going on.  I was not too pleased with the way things worked out and thought the conclusion was a bit outlandish.

What eventually saves the film are the portrayals given by both Will Smith and Rosario Dawson.  They make their characters genuinely interesting and likable.  Thus, they bring a story that abounds with dark tones to us during the Christmas season but one that does not leave us totally down at the end.  After all, they say it is better to give than to receive.  Go see the movie to understand exactly what I mean in this context!

Rated see – PG 13 -

Fatwayne’s Rating: