The Pursuit of Happyness (15 December 2006)
directed by Gabriele Muccino
starring Will Smith, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta, Kurt Fuller, Takayo Fischer, Scott Klace, Mark Christopher Lawrence, Domenic Bove
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MPAA rating: Studio: Overbrook Entertainment, Escape Artists, Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media Script: Steve Conrad Music: Andrea Guerra Running time: 117 minutes Tags: 1980s; based on true story; busses; Drama; father-son relationships; marriage; San Francisco Tactical strength: [6/10]
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for some language
The Pursuit of Happyness tells the true story of how Chris Gardner (Will Smith) lost everything important in his life except his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) and in spite of all the setbacks manages to get hired on as a stock broker at Dean Witter. Chris never lacked ambition. He found an opportunity selling bone density scanners and put his life savings into buying an exclusive distributorship for the device in the San Francisco Bay area. In spite of the machine's benefits, most doctors see it as a luxury item, and Chris has a hard time selling all of the units that he originally bought.
Always open for a new opportunity, Chris finds out about a stock broker internship program at Dean Witter. The firm accepts twenty-five applicants and hires just one at the end of the six-month training period. Chris gets accepted into the program and scrapes by during the six months of the unpaid internship. During that time his wife (Thandie Newton) leaves him, the police arrest him for unpaid parking tickets, he gets evicted from two apartments, he and his son start living in homeless shelters and train terminal restrooms, and the IRS seizes most of his remaining money. You have to respect the man for his persistent determination to provide something better for his family -- an embodiment of the American dream -- but you feel beat up by the incessant run of bad luck. The script makes several attempts at comic relief with Chris at different times chasing down a hippie and a homeless man who had each stolen one of Chris's bone density monitors. But these minor light moments hardly do anything to relieve the constantly building tension of the film.
The script displays all the characters as if people can only express a single emotion. Will Smith does a very good job portraying the desperation and despair, but the script doesn't allow him any room to display any range of emotions -- good depth, but no breadth. Jaden Smith does a fair job portraying Chris's five-year-old son, but he mainly provides a reflection for the dark emotions Chris experiences. Thandie Newton as Chris's wife, Linda, only gets to scream in frustration at not having enough money and only gets about ten minutes on screen. The script does a good job at building a feeling of despair, but nothing relieves that despair until the predictable ending. (Predictable because who would make a rags-to-riches story if the protagonist didn't end up with riches?) I have to say the film works, but only because it seeks to make you empathize with Chris's despair and doesn't try to portray rounded characters.
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