After Earth

Man, it must be nice to have Will Smith for a daddy. “What do you want for your 14th birthday, Jaden my darling?” “I’d like a movie, Papa.” “You got it, son. Let me call up the studio and ask them to write a check for one hundred and thirty million dollars!” I don’t really want to beat up too hard on the little apple of his father’s eye. He seems a quite ordinary young man, with no discernible acting ability and a total lack of the charisma that made his father one of the most bankable stars of the last twenty years … well, maybe I do want to beat up on him a little. I’ll admit it, I have always had a little trouble with the kids of movie stars going into the family business. (Political families are even worse: George W. Bush. I rest my case.) So many aspirants, so few roles. Somewhere out there is an actor who could have made this picture come alive … though it would have entailed a complete re-write and a director who could stop Will from sounding like a voice from the tomb most of the time. Bottom line is, the movie is boooooooring.