Angst, overdone mystery weigh heavily on 'Seven Pounds'

"Seven Pounds" is a dark and mysterious story about a dark and mysterious man who uses his powers as an IRS agent to execute dark and mysterious plans.

We don't know much about Ben Thomas (played by a solemn, matured Will Smith) except that he screams ugly things at a blind telemarketer (an uncharacteristically subdued Woody Harrelson), takes an unnaturally intense interest in the personal lives of taxpayers and constantly asks those he meets, "Are you a good person?"

There are hints, flashes of images, of some kind of automobile accident. There are unexplained exchanges between Ben and his brother (Michael Ealy), and blunt reminders of an obligation between Ben and his attorney Dan (Barry Pepper).

"Do what you promised!" Ben berates Dan. "Do what you promised!"

What? What did Dan promise? What's with the "Are you a good person" interrogation? Who is this guy and what does he really want?

Over the next two hours, "Seven Pounds" reveals all its narrative secrets and lets us in on the cinematic puzzle that director Gabriele Muccino has created for us (with help from writer Grant Nieporte).

All the clues, the foreshadowing fragments and verbal hints fall neatly into place and, finally, the first 90 percent of the story makes sense and hits us between the eyes with a story of personal sacrifice on a scale so grand and audacious that "Oprah" audiences would have trouble comprehending it.

Yet, "Seven Pounds" has an emptiness about it that negates the feelings of awe and abject sympathy that we should be experiencing.

Part of the problem rests with Muccino, who directed Smith in the 2006 fact-based drama "The Pursuit of Happyness." Muccino charges every scene with so much unexplained emotion and mysterious angst that the unrelenting intensity starts to numb us.

The other part of the problem rests with a particular, daring plot point that I will not reveal in the interests of preserving the drama's integrity. However, this irksome plot point, at least for me, presented a whole roster of questions that made me question if a key action had indeed been a selfless sacrifice, or something very bad and selfish.

Rosario Dawson puts her ample sex appeal on the shelf for a while to play Emily, a young woman who may be dying of an enlarged heart. Dawson's natural charisma and easygoing performance give "Seven Pounds" its own figurative heart, as Emily slowly falls in love with the IRS agent who never seems to go to his office to work.

That Ben has all the time in the world to hang out with the seven people on his list initially appears to be a Hollywood device to move the story along.

Like everything else in "Seven Pounds," Ben's ample allotment of time to sort the good people out from the bad can be explained.

Like much of "Seven Pounds," it's not all that convincing.

"Seven Pounds"

Rating: 2 stars

Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Barry Pepper

Directed by: Gabriele Muccino

Other: A Columbia Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and sexual situations. 123 minutes