21 Grams is a 2003 American drama film directed by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga.. 21 Grams interweaves several plot lines, around the consequences of a tragic automobile accident. Penn plays a critically ill academic mathematician, Watts plays a grief-stricken mother, and del Toro plays a born-again Christian ex-convict whose faith is sorely tested in the aftermath of the accident.