Most blatant example of Oscar bait ever

I don't think it was a bad movie. The heart was there, (pun not intended), but it seems to me Will Smith being a producer affected this movie a lot. I think it was a bad choice for him to be made to look like THE MOST generous and saintly man, who's also handy with machinery, before we find out why he's doing what he's doing. It's as if Will Smith wanted to be loved so much that once we see the actual depth to his character; his faults; we can forgive him instantly because of all the good *beep* we've seen him do already.

It seems like a little thing, but the placing of these scenes are VERY important because it gives emphasis on what we're supposed to be thinking. Instead of seeing a character who is struggling with his life after the great wrongs he has done, we're just given a really good man and we're left with the mystery of how can such a man be so perfect? And on top of that, one fault isn't enough. Aside from Smith's dark secret and redemptive attitude, there's nothing else to his character. This movie is just meant to be thoroughly sappy. I think Rosario Dawson's character was more interesting than Smith's.

But even still, I don't think it's a bad movie. Just got put together the wrong way to emphasize the wrong reasons.

This is exactly how I felt about the film too. I'm not sure if Will accepted the script on the ground that he thought he'd win a for-sure Oscar, of the writer wrote the script with Will in mind, but regardless, the only goal this film had was to win Oscars. The melancholy angle this film has is very forced and jarring, often coming completely out of nowhere and it's actually quite laughable in the second half of the film. Will tried winning an Oscar again with Concussion, but there's a reason why Pursuit Of Happyness got him an Oscar nom and not this *beep* How many times did Will brood, mope, and wallow in his self pity in POH? How often did he treat himself like a betrayed saint in POH? None, yet he still got a nomination for best actor.

Not to mention, the suicidal climax is terrible. I'm sure suicide via jellyfish sounded really poetic and unique on paper, but once you sit down and realize that jellyfish poison would damage and ruin all of his organs, thus making them completely unusable for donation, then it's like "why didn't you just shoot yourself, man."