I suspected that it would be hard to buy Will Smith playing a jerk. He's always such a good guy. I underestimated Smith's ability to adapt his comedic skill to the character he's playing. As Hancock Smith's superhero-without-a-heart is believable, especially when he responds to a lady who screams at him for having alcohol on his breath with, "It's because I've been drinking, bitch." Can't get any more jerky than that, right?

Jason Bateman, who is now stereotyped as the all-around nice guy, pops in to help Hancock become a little less jerky and a lot more popular. Bateman's character comes with hot wife played by Charlize Theron.

The movie would have been excellent had it followed that plotline through. Unfortunately, the movie takes a bad turn, and instead turns into a quasi-love story involving Hancock and Theron's characters. Instead of a heart-warming film about a superhero who finds himself, the audience is treated to an epic, albeit confusing, story that spans over centuries.

All of which might have been fine had the movie actually been marketed as such.

Don't go into this flick expecting to watch Smith transform from a jerk to the charming do-gooder he is accustomed to. That happens as much as it's going to, which isn't much, in the first half of the movie.

"Hancock", rated PG-13, is in theatres now.