I decided to dislike will smith after he ruined the film of john guare's beautiful play, six degrees of seperation. He was cast solely because he's a celebrity. He needed acting lessons badly. In later movies smith is surrounded by so many powerful actors doing action stuff--tommy lee jones for instance-- that smith never had to act. you just respond to smith because jones makes him believable. if tommy lee jones was acting opposite a broomstick, he could make you believe the broomstick is larry olivier if he wants to.
I find the same formula in action buddy movies with danny glover--a great talent-- and mel gibson who has a range of maybe two emotions indicated by one facial expression of crazy.
getting back to 'i robot' i only saw clips of it on cable.
In fairness smith did do a pretty good job in the sequel to coppolla's 'the conversation' but smith had gene hackman to fall back on. I just think the guy is a light weight who had it easy his whole life and lacks depth. He also comes across as conceited. now that he is older and uglier he is becoming more interesting to me.
pi