Collateral Beauty : the main problem - spoilers

so the main problem isn't the twists or the platitudes or how maudlin it is. it's that smith's character is a selfish prick. i get it, a terrible thing, probably the worst thing, happened to you. but when you see how he handles it, by not speaking to anyone, including his friends and colleagues, refuses to work and is running his business into the ground and most egregiously of all, rides his bike against traffic, in the middle of a manhattan street, you tend to wonder why he doesn't just get it over with and kill himself. ed, mike and kate telling you he used to be a great guy doens't really cut it when almost all you see is the selfish prick.

also, there was no will smith rap at the end where he raps the plot of the movie you just saw. so that sucked.

Smith is the selfish prick? What about the sociopathic friends he has?

sure, there was a little self-interest, but most of it was not wishing to see everything they've worked for go down the tube and helping their friend.

No, you don't get it. Unless you've lost a child, you have no idea what it does to you. He wasn't a selfish prick, he was broken.

look, losing a child doesn't mean that you have to act the way he did, which was to be a selfish prick. he could have handled it differently. for instance, if he wasn't interested in working, which he clearly wasn't, he could have taken a leave of absence, he could have quit or he could have sold his stake in the company. by refusing to any of these things and without the intervention of his friends, he would have ran the company into the ground along with the careers of his friends and the livelihoods of all his employees. and all because his pain was more important than all that stuff. which is the definition of selfishness.

ETA: i forgot to mention the part that really bothered me, which was when he was riding his bike against traffic down a manhattan street. look, fine, you don't care if you live or die, i get it. but some poor schmuck is probably going to get in an accident swerving to avoid you or the guy in front is going to stop short and get rearended, all because you are only thinking about yourself and your pain. it's not right and you don't get a pass in my book. especially after 2 years.

That's ok, you don't want to understand. Be glad you don't.

first of all, i don't need to experience something to have an idea of what it's like because i'm a human being and human beings are capable of a thing called empathy. secondly, even if it's impossible to comprehend what someone whose child died is going through, which it isn't, we don't need to know what he's feeling in order to criticize his behavior. and his behavior isn't universal to bereaved parents. plenty of bereaved parents get up and go to work, and even more, and i would say most, don't endanger other people's lives by riding their bikes against traffic. his behavior is incredibly selfish. the reason he's being selfish is sad but it doesn't excuse it when it negatively affects other people.

I think you're missing the point though Not everyone reacts to grief in the same way.

I can't even imagine losing a child and I've never even had a baby. I can't imagine the pain someone feels. Plus, when the movie first started, he was basically on top of the world.

Maybe he felt his life was perfect. Maybe something like this happening (especially to a CHILD) caused him to give up on life. He said he had made a deal with deathtake me instead of her.

It's one thing to know your elderly parents are going to die (yes, that's still tough on most people), but for your child who has not even begun to live life to be suffering and dying like that Idk

Yes, he was very self-consumed in all of his pain. Yes, it made him behave in weird ways. But major depression does that to people. He's fortunate he was able to get up, get dressed and come to work even at all. Some people can't even find the strength to get out of bed and leave their HOUSE. :(

All I'm saying is that we shouldn't be so quick to judge. Different people deal with grief and depression in different ways. You can't tell someone to just "suck it up" if you're not them and walking in their shoes everyday. I'm sorry, but that's just a very judgmental and cruddy way to think.

I'm not missing the point, you're missing the point. which is, it's fine if you want to, or need to wallow in your own grief and depression. it's not good, but it's fine. what isn't fine, is when you drag everyone you encounter down with you. for instance, i think it was a year or two ago when a depressed airline pilot crashed a commercial jet full of passengers on purpose because he was depressed and suicidal. i don't think anyone is going to argue that's somehow acceptable behavior. even if he had recently lost a child, it would still be wrong and horrible, because it's affecting other people directly. and while it's on a smaller scale, will smith's behavior is also negatively impacting the people around him.

you seem to be making the argument that motivation justifies behavior, he's grief-stricken and therefore his actions get a pass. but there are actions that don't get a pass. like killing a plane full of people because you're depressed, or jeopardizing people's livelihoods by running your company into the ground rather than sell it. and what both actions have in common is pure selfishness. in fact, in many stories like this, about grief-stricken parents of a dead child, there's often another child so the point can be made that the parent is being selfish by not attending to the needs of their living child.

We know you're insensitive and see things only in black and white. Just as a reminder. (As it seems like many people weren't paying attention to this film) he does state at the board meeting that they were doing the right thing. They had a buyer that wouldn't lead to any layoffs. He was just too depressed to see the "collateral" benefit of selling the company.


I am the Alpha and the Omoxus The Omoxus and the Omega

I know you are but what am i? so you're admitting that i know howard's being a selfish jerk, the film knows howard is being a selfish jerk and howard knows howard's being a selfish jerk, but you're the only one arguing he's not being a selfish jerk.

Im reminding you that Howard admitted that his behavoir was affecting others. Only insensitive person like you would ignore the mitigating factors and call him a "selfish jerk". Poor judgement perhaps, but not selfish.


I am the Alpha and the Omoxus The Omoxus and the Omega

I think omoxus might be Jada or Will himself!

The plot was predictable and the twists were telegraphed a mile away, so I spent about three quarters of the movie waiting for the twists to happen. The characters were, to a man, awful. I agree with you about Will Smith's character, he reacted to a horrific tragedy in the worst way possible and clearly didn't care he was harming others, potentially severely in the process. The scene at the end talking to the lawyers, he clearly understood the effect of his actions all along and he clearly also knew what was up with Michael Pena and just didn't care. Riding his bike against traffic was especially egregious, a couple of steps down from *beep* who kill themselves by parking on train tracks or crashing their planes full of people, I f you're going to kill yourself, at least don't harm others in the process. As you said, he potentially could have severely injured or killed someone by causing an accident, and even if he got hit and was e only one who got hurt or died, the emotional toll to the victim who hit him might be considerable.

And his so called "friends", good lord. The only one who was slightly sympathetic was Michael Pena, who at least had his impending death and desire to make sure his family was provided for to excuse his acquiescence to gaslighting his friend. The only character I had no issue with was the ex wife.