by Paul Shuler on April 9, 2009

Hancock, I am Legend, PG-13, Rosario Dawson, Seven Pounds, Southwestern Seven-layer dip, Will Smith, Woody Harrelson

Heavy Hitters (Movie Stars): Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson
MPAA Rating: PG-13, 118mins

Home Run Dad’s Overall Rating: Triple

First, a word of advice: when possible, always go into a movie with no expectations. Too high expectation and the movie is likely to disappoint; too low expectation and you are likely not to give the movie the attention or credit it desires. Luckily, we went into Seven Pounds with no expectations. We were not even sure what it was about. We just knew that it was a new DVD release.

The uncomfortable ride this movie took us on was both tantalizing and frustrating. There is no adequate way to describe the plot without spoiling the entire movie. But I can tell you this, you will either be frustrated with its jagged time line (the entire movie is a flashback that has flashbacks) and scheming plot line or you will be pulled into it — searching for clues that give the movie some kind of meaning. We knew those clues were there, we just couldn’t find them! Of course that was no doubt the intent of this movie, but rarely do we not have the plot of even the trickiest movie figured out by a quarter of the way into it. This script was obviously designed to annoy any rational or logical thinking person. When Holly, a child services social worker, asks Smith’s character “Ben, what are you doing?” I wanted to scream out the exact same thing!

The flow of the story provided both a mystery and a seemingly lack of direction. We knew (at least prayed and drastically hoped) everything would probably be connected and make sense in the end, but the drawn out love story between Smith and Dawson’s characters brought us almost to the brink of not caring. Although the two clicked well on screen, the unnecessary length of the love story added to the impatience of wondering what the heck does, well, pretty much everything, mean? I thought their sex scene added nothing to the plot and sent the wrong message (in an otherwise moral story) to any young people watching. The couple had known each other only a short time, she literally knew nothing about him (except that he was a little strange, had basically stalked her, and had admittedly lied to her), and the one genuine focus throughout the movie is that he still adored his deceased wife. But they still managed to make into bed anyway. Go figure.

We were becoming fearful that we might have rented another Hancock or I Am Legend, ie. yet another Will Smith movie with unrealized potential. Like those movies, we are given little reason to like Will Smith’s sometimes crass and prying character who in the beginning appears to be a hustler or, at best, an easy-to-anger tax collector. The people he seeks out in the movie represent those the general populace (read: you and I) tend to forget about: a minority woman with a major heart condition that keeps her from working to pay her bills; Hispanic mother in an abusive relationship; a man who needs bone marrow transplants to live; and an elderly women in a nursing home. Therefore, the middle of the movie could easily lead someone to sorrow and disillusionment with both the movie and the world. Ironically, it is the story’s ending which sets it apart from Smith’s previous works. A bittersweet wrap up that leads one to think about humanities’ path towards the world’s end in a more positive light than the above mentioned films managed to portray.

While it may appear as if we didn’t like the movie, it’s quite the contrary. We recommend you see it. Just make sure you watch it all the way to the end and don’t worry too much about trying to piece it all together until you get into the second half of the movie. The powerful ending explains what Smith’s character means when he says (at the beginning of the movie) “In 7 days God created the world. In 7 seconds I shattered mine.”

Home Run Mom’s Chow-With-the-Movie Recipe

There are so many different options with Seven Pounds. The movie features a sea creature, so we could do seafood. We could do a desert recipe that uses ‘pound’ cake or focus on the vegetarian dog and offer a vegetarian recipe. With all these options, maybe it’s best we stick with the theme of ’seven’ and provide a recipe with seven ingredients: Southwestern Seven-layer dip. The following is incredibly easy and such a family favorite that we used to fix on a weekly basis!

Ingredients:

• 1 can refried beans
• 2 packages frozen guacamole, thawed
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 package taco seasoning mix
• 1 diced tomato
• 1 can sliced black olives
• 4 diced green onions
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1 cup Picante Sauce

Instructions:

Before layering, make the guacamole by mixing the sour cream, mayonnaise and 1/2 package of taco mix in a small bowl.
1st layer – on a large platter, spread the refried beans,
2nd layer – cover the beans with a layer of the guacamole,
3rd layer – layer over the guacamole with the Picante sauce,
4th layer – layer over the Picante sauce with the grated cheese,
5th layer – layer over the cheese with the black olives,
6th layer – layer over the black olives the diced green onion,
7th layer – layer over the black olives the tomatoes.

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips!

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