Howard (Will Smith) is a high-powered and committed ad executive, driven by the interaction between Love, Time and Death. When his daughter dies, there is nothing left in Howard's life. He writes letters to Love, Time and Death, but doesn't function at work any more, leaving his three partners at a loss as to how to save the business crashing. When Death, Time and Love turn up in person and respond to Howard's letters, will this provide him with a way out of his grief?The first thing to mention is that this is another film which leaves a key plot element out of the trailer - indeed, in some respects, the trailer is downright misleading - and the developments from this element are one of the joys of this movie. Parallels are drawn between the personifications of Death (Helen Mirren), Time (Jacob Latimore) and Love (Keira Knightley) and the circumstances of Howard's partners (Michael Pena, Kate Winslet and Edward Norton), who have personal issues with Death, Time and Love at their hearts.But even without that wrinkle, the movie is highly engaging. The script is good. It may not ring with resounding wordplay, but it is constantly thoughtful and thought-provoking and - surprisingly given that the film's overpowering theme is bereavement - it is often quite amusing.Naomie Harris plays the leader of a Child Bereavement self-help group which Howard eventually attends after loitering outside on numerous occasions, and maybe she will be able to help him make sense of these meetings with individuals who may - or may not - be figments of his imagination. The movie plays with fantastic elements while never losing site of the raw reality of bereavement which lies at its core.It's not fair to say that the film resolves Howard's issues - that would indeed be glib - but the film does resolve itself, and there is a degree of glibness in how it does so.Even so, the film tackles a difficult subject and does so in an engaging and compassionate way, entertains throughout its length, and leaves you with much to mull over in quiet contemplation or in empassioned conversation.An unusually thoughtful and intelligent movie.

I can see the intentions of the story, I admire the subject that it's trying to tackle (that being child loss). Somehow, this fell short and unfortunately is a mess. Howard has a promising start to life. Tragically though, he loses his daughter to an illness and slowly his life begins to crumble. He writes letters to three abstractions of life: Love, Death and Time. His work colleagues notice this, and hire three actors to portray the physical representations of these abstractions in an attempt to help him...therapeutically I guess. That's all well and good, but when you use grief and bereavement as a plot device it should be handled with care. In this, they make the protagonist feel like he has mental issues so that his "friends" can continue working in the company. Call me old fashioned or sensible, but that's not ok. Suffering is a horrible process, Will Smith excellently conveys this and actually makes quite a powerful performance. Yet, beneath the narrative is this weird jolly undertone that makes it seem like you're watching a romantic comedy. If this was made ten or twenty years ago, it could've had a place. Now though? No. Evidently what attracted audiences was its stellar cast consisting of Will Smith, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Edward Norton, Naomie Harris, Keira Knightley...and more! It just keeps going! To be fair to them, they were all good. The preachy script about time, love and death just doesn't help them. Literally. "I wish I had more time so I can love and not fear death, but time is running out and time time timeeeeeee." Then the last five minutes happen and it's just nonsensical. Direction was solid, the whole film was well shot and was nice to look at. But...not enough I'm afraid. Watchable, it's not entirely a collateral mess. Oh, and what even is Collateral Beauty!? Stupid title. What's worse, is that they try to explain it in the film. Urghhhhh.

This movie was a complete surprise in that I didn't expect to love it. Not long into it I figured out the hook, but it was all well done and completely worth my time. Beautiful piece of artwork. Cathartic, poignant, emotional. Well done.

A wonderful film from beginning to end, it has a very nice storyline and a wonderful ending. A masterpiece.