Based on the first trailer, Will Smith appears to be staging a prestige comeback with the upcoming film Collateral Beauty. With his most recent promising projects failing to land well with critics—specifically 2008’s derided Seven Pounds and 2015’s Concussion—the award-winning actor is now heading up a star-studded weepy that could represent his ticket back to Oscar glory.
Set for a Dec. 16 release, Collateral Beauty meditates on grief, tragedy, and hope, exploring the emotional turmoil of Howard (Smith), a New York advertising executive who has just lost his son. Its appeal certainly begins with the cast—Keira Knightley, Kate Winslet, Edward Norton, Naomie Harris, and Helen Mirren are all in the mix here—but beyond that, the first trailer hints at a well-produced tearjerker that could fare well in the thick of the holiday season.
Smith isn’t the only one for whom Collateral Beauty represents the potential for a much-needed career resurgence: The film comes courtesy of director David Frankel, of Devil Wears Prada fame (but without a significant hit in the years since), and screenwriter/producer Allan Loeb, whose résumé mostly consists of critical duds (that nonetheless have done well at the box office) since his acclaimed debut Things We Lost in the Fire. With a cast this good, there’s reason to be optimistic.
