Seven Pounds (2008) on Netflix
Ben Thomas works for the IRS and clears the tax trouble of Emily Posa, a greeting card printer who needs a heart donor. He also looks for other people he can help.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb7.6/10327,986 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes27%
Trailer
Plot summary
Emily Posa runs a greeting card business and is waiting for a heart transplant; her blood is rare, which lowers her chances. Ben Thomas, who collects taxes for the IRS, takes on her case and settles what she owes. He also asks Holly, who works in social services, to point him toward people who deserve help, and she names Connie Tepos, whose boyfriend beats her. Ben telephones Ezra Turner, a blind pianist who sells meat, and provokes him to test his temper; Ezra stays calm. Ben spends his days with Emily, tending the garden and repairing her Heidelberg Windmill press, and the two of them fall in love.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Seven Pounds (2008)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
SPOILER
Will Smith said the title refers to Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, in which a debtor must pay a pound of flesh; here it amounts to seven gifts to seven individuals deemed worthy by his character, to atone for seven deaths he caused.- Will Smith handpicked Michael Ealy to play Ben Thomas, his character's brother, and Connor Cruise, the adopted son of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, was cast in his first role as a younger version of Ben.
- The film was promoted on an unconventional five-city tour in November 2008, screening in Cleveland, Miami, Dallas, St. Louis and Denver to raise funds for food banks; Smith said it was "more like the old-school music tours. Different clubs, different cities, meeting people."
- Before release the studio refused to explain the title, and early trailers kept the film's details a mystery; director Gabriele Muccino explained the intent as "the [audience] will not know exactly what this man is up to".
- The opening gross was the lowest for a film starring Smith since Ali in 2001, coming in US$5 million under what was anticipated, a shortfall partially ascribed to winter storms in the Northeast over the weekend.
