Kissing Jessica Stein

For those who missed it, two or three weeks ago (I can't remember which and am too lazy to check), I selected Seven Pounds as the film that will be my first Full Education. Naturally, that means that the foreseeable future will consist of reviews that get me to that point. Now, to clarify, when it comes to which cast members I need to watch the entire back catalogue of, my rule is simple. It's anyone who is in the opening credits. In the case of Seven Pounds, that means these people.

• Will Smith
• Rosario Dawson
• Michael Ealy
• Barry Pepper
• Woody Harrelson
• Elpidia Carrillo
• Bill Smitrovich
• Robinne Lee
• Tim Kelleher
• Joe Nunez

Then, there will also be the writer Grant Nieporte and director Gabriele Muccino. I begin with a dark horse of a film.

The Partially Educated Review
Coming out (by way of idealism)

The Seven Pounds Connection: A very early (and equally brief) role from Michael Ealy. 

In 50 Words or Less: A sweet-natured film led by two hugely likeable performances. It's just unfortunate that it's brave subject matter is explored in an overly safe manner that seems scared of shaking the nest.

In Detail: Jennifer Westfeldt isn't a household name. She's not even a face that I'd put any amount of money on you recognising, but she's had a curious sort of career. Every five years or so, she releases a film in which she stars in a role that she's written for herself (she gets someone else to direct). The rest of the time she takes unmemorable bit parts, presumably for paying the bills whilst she writes her next project. I've seen two of her films (this and Friends With Kids) and they're both entirely fine, coasting along with a sort of cute rose-tinted view of the world. With Kissing Jessica Stein, that is both an asset and a detriment.

After the adamantly heterosexual title character responds to a 'women seeking women' ad in the classifieds section, she finds herself dabbling in the idea of a lesbian relationship. Curiously, despite the "not for bible belt consumption" plot, the film plays it incredibly safe. Any desire to present a view of societal issues with homosexuality or to make any sort of comment on the difficulties of coming out is muted by the fact that everyone who finds out is instantly accepting of the whole situation. Though it's a beautiful ideal, it feels fake. The film presents two hugely likeable characters in Westfeldt's Stein and Heather Juergensen's Helen (Juergensen co-wrote with Westfeldt), meaning you will care about the relationship and want it to succeed. Unless you're a raging homophobe, in which case...

When it shies away from much more than a hint of the difficulties coming their way, it feels like a squandered opportunity. The filmmaker's appear to lack confidence in whether these characters are winning over their audience and throw in overly frequent reminders of how great it all is. They want you to go along with it and you should go along with it, but the film could have taken the risk of including some voices of dissension in order to create a more real-world view.

Though that's a problem, the undeniably positive atmosphere created by the film does put conjure up warm, happy feelings. The narrative packs some surprises along the way (I can't imagine many will correctly predict how it ends) and the dialogue feels relatively sharp. There's some odd directorial choices here and there. For example, one of the initial love scenes between two white women has a song blatantly written for a black audience played over it. I won't go into deals, but you'll know it when you here it. Mostly though, the focus wisely remains on dialogue and characterisation. Kissing Jessica Stein feels like a film that should have caused more conversation and debate than it did. That it didn't is mostly it's own fault, but it's still worth the time.

SIX out of 10

Seven Pounds

There's this concept in film that's known as the Magical Negro. It's not liked much. This kind of explains it.

Technically, Seven Pounds is a magical negro film. I'm not saying it's not, but (go with me on this), I actually don't care.

A Partially Educated Review

The film that will be my first Full Education, but isn't yet.

In 50 Words or Less: By far, the most under-appreciated film of Will Smith's career (so far). A film that manages to be both heartbreaking and uplifting in tandem. It may veer dangerously close to committing some nasty Hollywood sins, but pulls it back with great performances and a truly affecting narrative.

I am happy to accept all of the following:

1. That good intentions should not always be a "get out of jail" free card if the end product panders to insulting tropes or damaging stereotypes.
2. That Hollywood is, in any way, equal when it comes to gender or, in this case, racial equality, particularly in the quality of roles that are out there.
3. That vanity projects usually need to be eradicated from cinema.

I'm also not going to shy away from the fact that all three of those criticisms have been thrown in the direction of Seven Pounds, but when a film affects and moves me as much as this one does (and it's done it three times now), I can't bring myself to cite it as anything other than excellent.

It's a hard film to describe without giving things away. The concept is simple, but told in a non-linear manner that keeps things hidden. At first, it may appear like a vain attempt to make the film seem more clever, but just go with it and it becomes a non-issue by the end. What you know is this; Will Smith is not in a good place. His opening phone call is announcing his own suicide. We then see him borderline stalking people who he has clearly never met before (they clearly do not know him either) with a desire to discover whether or not they are a good person.

It's a hard opening to get behind for sure, but the way the film unravels won me over. You may see a some of the plot coming before it arrives. It also has a final act that stretches credibility to the point where it almost snaps, but the overarching story that it's telling combines with the characters to instil an overwhelming wave of emotion in me and a number of other people I know. In fact, the only people I'm aware of who this film hasn't affected are people I don't even know. It's true that the film's chief want is to reduce it's audience to tears and that's an aim that frequently leads to criticisms of emotional manipulation. Again, I see the point. Again, I don't care.

Will Smith is at his absolute best here. I had a quick look through his other films and I've seen almost all of them. I can't name one where he delivers a better performance than this. Something tells me Hitch won't challenge it. There is so much internal conflict going on and Smith makes you feel every ounce of it. Supporting roles are also fairly good, with Rosario Dawson getting the best deal and Woody Harrelson delivering a decent, if underused, role as a blind pianist.

Here's testament to how much I like Seven Pounds. I've picked so many films over the last two years, with regards to what should be my first Full Education and I can't help but keep changing my mind. An initial attempt to find something where I like everyone in it and everything they've been in proved a fairly foolhardy exercise. I considered taking a classic, but what's the point of telling everyone how great a film is if they already know it. So that's why I'm choosing Seven Pounds. I love it and due to a fairly poisonous response from other critics, it's been pretty much forgotten about. It's helps that I'm a fan of Smith, Dawson and Harrelson; the latter two of which I consider amongst the most under celebrated actors working today. I understand how the criticisms levelled at Seven Pounds have shown their head and I'm not saying their wrong (I don't believe in the idea that an opinion can be wrong). I'm just accusing them of being heartless bastards!

NINE out of 10