The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Director: Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton
Reviewer: Reese

Based on a true story, Will Smith plays Christopher Gardner, a not-so-successful salesman who beats the odds to be accepted into an internship program at a prestigious stock brokerage. The internship is very demanding, offers no salary, and only one of the 20 interns will be hired at the end of it. The movie follows Gardner, a single father, as he and his son endure poverty and homelessness for the 6 months spanning his internship.

This is a film in the "inspirational story about an underdog who makes something of himself" genre and it's very well done. Will Smith is a fine actor and he plays the lead character without any of the schmaltzy bullshit or unecessary histrionics that an inferior actor (like Don Cheadle - I hate that guy) would resort to. Gardner's son is played by Jaden Smith (Will's and Jada's son). Gardner's wife, who abandons the family early on, is played by Thandie Newton, who does this interesting thing where she sucks the food off her teeth as she's talking. Little details like that really separate the good actresses from the crappy actresses who have no business acting and who should really just stick to posing nude, or anchoring the news, or bartending, or some other occupation suited for lazy people who need constant gratuities for doing something excessively simple that requires almost no training whatsoever.

The film is almost Dickensean in its portrayal of poverty and hardship and the only issue I have with it is that the story seemed to consist entirely of unfortunate setback after unfortunate setback. I know, I know, it's a story of a real person's life, but still... does it need to be so unrelentlessly bleak? A biopic is not, strictly speaking, an accurate depiction of its subject's life anyway; it's a calculated selection of events from their lives which, when put together, comprise a completely fabricated narrative ... I'm just saying that they could have selected a few happy events (I'm sure there were some in this guy's life, right?) to slightly restructure the narrative and relieve the constant pathos.

All in all, though, it was a really good movie. Very emotional, interesting, inspiring, and quite original. I recommend this movie highly.

8/10


Here's Will Smith behind the scenes with the real Chris Gardner. I enjoyed this interview with Chris Gardner. He has a great attitude and seems like a very inspired individual.