Will Smith is forty years old? That seems almost impossible, for a guy who seems timeless like the Toms (Hanks and Cruise) or the name brands (Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods). But one might argue that he's getting better with time, as his movies seem more and more likely to challenge us while they entertain and delight us. Will Smith: a fine wine, I say.

In 1990, Will Smith debuted his hit television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and after a dalliance with Six Degrees of Separation, he made sonic booms, like Independence Day, Bad Boys, Men In Black, and Enemy of the State. While none of them can claim to be world-class worthy (except in the boom-boom department), each of them has found its way into the "watched multiple times" list. And then, we started to notice the change.

First, there was Ali in 2000, then I, Robot in 2005, followed quickly by The Pursuit of Happyness, I Am Legend, Hancock, and The Secret Life of Bees. While Smith hasn't given up his penchant for the science fiction yarns, each of these seems bent on making more of an impact on what it means to be human, what it means to be heroic and what it means to experience dilemmas in the work place, at home, and as an individual.

So, Seven Pounds is the one movie that I have to see during this recession-touched Christmas season. It's Will Smith time. Okay, so the man owns two months every year, July and December, I will give him that; but really, to shell out my hard-earned cash, Smith is one of the few that becomes a must, the way watching Jordan was in my adolescenceor catching a John Wayne flick was to my grandfather.

But this story shows that Smith's trend is still leaning forward, toward what it means to be human and what lasts, what it means to be eternal. Here, an IRS agent, Ben Thomas, works to make the lives of seven people better after a personal tragedy that he feels responsible for. Here, Smith works to find the heroic in the mundane, in the tragic, and in December, when little babies who are born into mangers become saviors of the world, and we can learn more about what it means to strive for our best.

Thomas is working a secretive "pay it forward" kind of idea that the commercials hint only the least information, yet serve up the sort of grand ideas that make for holiday fare and theological debate. What would we do if we made a mistake and had the opportunity to make it right? What if the absolution of our souls was greater than we could handle, if the debt was too big to pay back? Seems to me that this is the situation that life found itself in when Jesus came... and we still do without Christ.

So, again, will Smith work his magic again this December? Will Seven Pounds be the story not just about the redemption of one man but of many? It's Christmas time, and anything can happen. Miracles even. So, I'll enter the darkened theater expectantly, and hope for the best.