Not even Will Smith can save ‘Collateral Beauty’

Philly’s Will Smith works hard to bring some humanity “Collateral Beauty” (2016, Warner, PG-13, $28), a modern-day fairy tale about Howard, a New York advertising exec still grieving the death of his six-year-old daughter. But Smith can’t overcome a sappy script that’s full of nonstop platitudes.

The premise is a doozy: Howard’s business partners (Edward Norton, Michael Pena, Kate Winslet) devise a plan to save Howard and his company by introducing him to Love (Keira Knightley), Time (Jacob Latimore) and Death (Helen Mirren). It’s a set-up in need of a miracle and director David Frankel doesn’t have nearly enough pixie dust to go around. Extras: featurettes.

ALSO NEW TO DVD Live By Night (2016, Warner, R, $30):

After being nearly killed by an Irish mob boss in Prohibition-era Boston, small-time bank robber Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) decides to head to Tampa to join the competition. Soon, he’s fallen in love a local rum-runner (Zoe Saldana) and is hoping to turn Florida into a haven for gambling. Directed by Affleck, who also penned the screenplay, “Live By Night” possesses the charged tension of a thriller. But it’s the encounters Joe has with a handful of strangers, including a sheriff (Chris Cooper), the sheriff’s religious daughter (Elle Fanning) and a KKK leader (Matthew Maher) which give the movie its unique zing. Sure, it’s too ambitious. But, in the end, “Live By Night” delivers the goods. Extras: featurettes, deleted scenes and Affleck commentary.

*** Accidental Courtesy (2016, First Run, unrated, $20):

Here’s a documentary about race which centers on Daryl Davis, an AfricanAmerican musician who’s played with everyone from Chuck Berry to Dolly Parton. Davis has made it his mission in life to explore why anyone would “hate me without knowing me.” He’s traveled all over the country meeting and befriended members of the KKK, some of whom he’s convinced to turn over their robes and quit the organization. While he’s inspired both respect and wrath from black activists, his message of unity winds up being quite moving. “Accidental Courtesy” is fascinating from the first frame to the last. Extras: featurettes and deleted scenes.

*** Being 17 (2016, Strand, unrated, $28):

More than 20 years after directing the gay-tinged drama “Wild Reeds,” French filmmaker Andre Techine returns to the same territory with another love story about highschoolers. Initially, farm boy Tom (Corentin Fila) and the more sophisticated Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein) can’t stand each other but, thanks to a strange turn of events, they wind up living under the same roof, along with Damien’s physician mother (Sandrine Kiberlain ). Hatred melts away into attraction as the teenagers begin hanging out together. There’s not a false moment in this drama, which takes place in a small town in the Pyrenees mountains. Everything about “Being 17” feels bewitchingly right. Extras: featurette.

*** Fire At Sea (2016, Kino, unrated, $30):

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary, this timely Italian film by Gianfranco Rosi takes a unique approach to depicting the refugee crisis. Set on Lampedusa, a once peaceful Mediterranean island that has become a major entry

COURTESY PHOTO point for African refugees into Europe, the doc contrasts the lives of refugees who are rescued by Italians with the locals who continue to go about their everyday existence seemingly unaware of what is going on around them. While a bit of narration...