I saw a review, actually more of a commentary, of the new Will Smith movie “Seven Pounds” and there was a line in the commentary that gave me pause. The writer said, “To be in a Will Smith movie and not have one laugh for 90 minutes . . . is really jaw dropping.”

I wonder about the laugh factor in projects. What I mean is, when I read reviews of dramas, be it television or movies, reviewers want to have humor in the project. They want the sense of fun, the sense of, no matter what the consequences, there has to be something to smile or laugh at. It seems the only dramas allowed to be serious are independent art house projects.

I’m not saying I’m against humor, but I think things have to be taken in context. The same person making comments talked about how Hancock, Will Smith’s last film, wasn’t his best but worked with audiences because of the humor. The humor is what I and many other hero geeks didn’t like about the film. If the material had been taken more seriously it may have had a smaller box office but more respect by the geeks.

While I liked Iron Man, I liked The Dark Knight more. The Dark Knight had humor, with the Joker, but the humor was sick and was to make a point about the way of twisting good people out of their complacency and to embrace anarchy. Iron Man was just gee whiz super robot fighting. The humor is Iron Man was joking and rolls on the floor stuff while the humor in Dark Knight was in spite of the grim message it sent out.

From the description given by the commentator of the film, I don’t understand why he expected to have laughs in the movie. I guess his thinking was if Will Smith is a funny guy then he has to be funny in a movie. His description of the movie, which he claims you get where the film is going in the first five minutes of the movie, really doesn’t lend itself to humor. Comparing it to another film recently released, it would be like complaining there isn’t any humor in “Valkyrie.” Well, sorry, a film about the attempted assassination attempt on Hitler, when the outcome is known that the pan fails and the conspirators are executed really don’t lend itself to humor. “Seven Pounds” isn’t meant to be a feel good movie, from what I can tell. It’s meant to make you think, it’s meant to make you question, but you aren’t supposed to necessarily feel good at the end of it.