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Seven Pounds Movie Review 

There are nine characters that have very important parts for the story-line of the movie. They are:

Ben Thomas (Will Smith), Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), Ezra Turner (Woody Hamelson), Tim

Thomas (Michael Ealy), Dan (Barry Pepper), Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carillo), Sarah Jenson

(Robine Lee), Nicolas (Connor Cruise), Holly Apelgr (Judyann Elder), and George (Andy

Milder). (According to IMDb)

MOVIE SUMMARY

Ben Thomas killed seven people in a car accident, including his fiance, Sarah. After that he starts

to plan how he is going to commit suicide and what he is going to do before he does. He decides

to pretend to be his brother, Tim, who works for the IRS. He calls a blind man named Ezra and

makes fun of him for being blind and other things. Next he goes to a nursing home and he is

deciding on whether or not to give the man who runs it an extension on the debt he owes. Inez,

one of the patients there, hasn’t bathed in a long time because the owner is punishing her for not

taking her pills. He takes her out of bed and makes them give her a bath, then he tells the man

that he will not give him an extension. Then he starts looking for a woman named Emily. He

finds her at the hospital and tells her that he is from the IRS and that she owes $56,000 to the

U.S. Government. He goes back to her house with her and tells her that he is going to give her a

5 to 6 month extension for paying off her debt. He gives her his card and tells her that if anyone

from the IRS calls then she needs to call him immediately. He leaves to talk to his old friend

Holly who is a child services employee. He asks her to tell him about someone who is in a
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hopeless situation. Holly tells him about a woman who is consistently being abused by her

boyfriend and she can’t get away from him. He goes to her house and gives her his card. He tells

her that he can help her and her two children. Then he checks into a hotel. He brings a big fish

tank and box jellyfish with him. He flashes back to when his dad told him that box jellyfish are

the most deadly creatures on the planet. Next Ben goes to see his best friend, Dan, to make sure

that he knows what to do when he commits suicide and Dan says he’ll make sure it goes as

planned. Then he leaves to talk to George, a man that coaches troubled kids in hockey and who

needs a kidney. Ben gives George his kidney and tells him that he chose him because he’s a good

man even when nobody's looking. Meanwhile, Emily is taking her dog for a walk and passes out.

Luckily her neighbor sees and calls 911. When Emily wakes up at the hospital she calls Ben and

tells him to stay on the phone and talk to her because it keeps her calm. He talks to her while he’s

on his way to the hospital. By the time he gets to her room she is asleep, so he stays with her. In

the morning the doctor tells Emily that she has only about a month to live unless she moves up

on the heart donor list. Then Connie calls him and tells him that she needs his help. He meets up

with her and gives her an envelope with a key to his beach house inside. He tells her that she can

go live there and the house will be hers as soon as she signs the papers that are waiting for her.

Later Emily invites Ben to go walk her dog with her and he accepts. While on the walk he begins

to fall in love with her. Meanwhile Ben has been keeping his eye on a little boy named Nicolas

who has cancer. He needs bone marrow to fight off the cancer. Ben donates his bone marrow

without using any anesthetics. Then Emily invites him over to eat dinner with her. When he’s

there they have their first kiss and he stays the night. He wakes up in the middle of the night and

leaves to talk to Emily’s doctor. She says that there is only about a three percent chance of Emily
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getting a donor in time. Ben goes back to his hotel and on the way calls Dan to tell him that it’s

happening tonight. He fills his tub with ice and water to ensure that his heart will be in good

condition for Emily. Then he calls 911 and reports his own suicide. He dumps the box jellyfish

into the tub and it kills him. After, Dan calls Ezra and informs him that he will receive Ben’s

eyes.

CONCLUSION

According to the Los Angeles Times, Seven Pounds got its title because of the seven pounds of

flesh that Ben Thomas gives to people that need them. Seven Pounds is a very confusing and

unrealistic movie, and many Rotten Tomatoes critics agree with me on that. A Rotten Tomatoes

critic named Shubhru Gupta said something like, “The idea is so far out that it can be only

fiction.” Another critic named Matthew Lucas said, “Chokes on its own muddled spiritual

regurgitation.” Another, Sandra Hall, said, “The film's most abiding mystery lies in the question

of why it ever got made.” Ben is planning to commit suicide and his best friend Dan knows

about it and doesn’t inform anyone of it. He keeps it a secret. If this was a realistic movie then I

believe that the best friend would have informed Ben’s family or at least done more to try to stop

him. One way that it could be explained is that maybe Dan didn’t know what to say and do when

Ben told him his plans because most people really don’t know what to do if someone told them

that they were planning on committing suicide. That is why we need to spread awareness on

what to say and do in the event of someone telling you that they are planning to take their own

lives. HelpGuide suggests that we need to “Take any suicidal talk or behavior seriously. It’s not

just a warning sign that the person is thinking about suicide--it’s a cry for help.”
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Works Cited:

Smith, Melinda, et al. “Suicide Prevention.” ​Helpguide.org,​

www.helpguide.org/articles/suicide-prevention/suicide-prevention.htm.

“Seven Pounds.” ​IMDb​, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0814314/fullcredits.

“Seven Pounds (2008).” ​Rotten Tomatoes​, www.rottentomatoes.com/m/seven_pounds.

“Facts Don't Add up in 'Seven'.” ​Los Angeles Times,​ Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2009,

www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jan-12-he-unreal12-story.html.