Subdued Smith Makes 'Pursuit' a Winner
Written: Mar 21 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Will Smith's unselfish performance. Uplifting and inspiring story.
Cons: Questionable materialistic values.
The Bottom Line: The Pursuit of Happyness is an inspiring true story that is told with an honesty that eludes most studio films.
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| briankrakow's Full Review: The Pursuit of Happyness |
The Pursuit of Happyness may sound like your typical feel good Oscar bait picture, but it's much better than that. Armed with a true story so inspiring that the screenplay wrote itself, star Will Smith and director Gabriele Muccino made several smart steps along the way. Chief among them was to play down everything. Most movies with a rags-to-riches story like this feel the need to blast you with over the top moments. Directors want to make sure you know how inspirational their story is. Thankfully, Smith and Muccino already realized they had a winner and there was no need to ham it up. Their honest and upfront depiction of this true story is what makes Pursuit of Happyness an engaging motion picture.
Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a salesman with a product that no one wants: bone density scanners. He threw away his life savings to buy them, and they proved to be something that most hospitals didn't want to pay for. While his wife (Thandie Newton) works double shifts to pay the bills, Chris's son (Will's real life son Jaden Smith) spends his days in a low rent daycare that can't even properly spell happiness (hence the film title). As Chris struggles to sell the last few scanners they have, he gets the chance to apply for an internship for a stockbroker position. By then his wife's patience has worn thin and she departs, leaving Chris with the difficult task of pursuing a non paying internship with no guarantee of success while raising his son at the same time.
This is one of those movies where several antagonistic characters keep popping up to tell Chris why his dream is stupid and impossible. I have a running joke myself, where I warn those who get in my way that they could be the villains in my life story. While watching The Pursuit of Happyness, I wondered how some of the real life individuals felt about their inclusion in this story? And this is where I felt the treatment of the wife was extremely unfair. Played to the head snapping, finger pointing extreme by Thandie Newton, we are meant to regard her with disgust. Why won't she just leave Chris alone? However, this portrayal becomes problematic if you take an honest appraisal of the situation. Many of her criticisms are right on. Chris's pursuit of the stockbroker job is a pipe dream. Sure it's one that he eventually achieves, but it's a bit unfair to say she should have known that.
If you think about it, Chris's actions seem a bit selfish at times. His first interest in the job is when he notices someone with a really nice car. When he finds out that the man is a stockbroker, he dedicates himself to get that job. To Chris, an attractive car and a high paying job are what make you successful in life. He's going to go after that no matter what the cost. The studio synopsis of the film says that Chris and his son are "forced" to sleep in homeless shelters and in a public bathroom. That doesn't quite get it right. Certainly Chris could have got a job that would have paid the bills and got his son off the streets. Now the movie itself argues (very convincingly) that the short temporary pain of these moments were worth it in the long run for both Chris and his son, but let's not kid ourselves and pretend Chris didn't make a choice.
Set in the early 80s, it's impossible to ignore the similarities in the key values expressed by this film and the core values of the Reagan presidency. However, what's interesting is that while the film may seem to support Reaganesque ideals, it clearly doesn't support Reagan himself. Reagan only briefly appears in the movie, making a policy speech. He is disconnected from the real human events of Chris's life. If anything, the director might be pointedly taking Reagan to task for policies that actually hindered hard working people like Chris. Some have pointed to the portrayal of hippies and tax collectors as villains, but the minimalist portrayal of both makes it more likely that the film is simply following the real life events that inspired the story.
It's impossible to deny the immediate underdog appeal of the overall narrative. The story is so easy to love that someone who hates it is likely to be accused of kicking puppies as well. What I particularly liked about the film was Will Smith's subdued performance. He eschews himself of the simple acting techniques that have dominated his career: sarcastic quips, overblown close up reactions, smug demeanor. This must have been difficult to do with a movie that had so much Oscar potential. It would have been easy to take it to a new level, with plenty of opportunities for hysterics. Smith avoids that and in doing so stays true to Chris's quiet dignity. The rest of the film is similarly subdued, free from the unnecessary musical cues, silly musical montages, and saccharine big speeches that you find in most pictures of this kind.
The Pursuit of Happyness is an emotionally uplifting tale of a man who goes after his dream at all costs. Even if it doesn't remotely resemble my own dream, I admired Chris's dedication and perseverance in chasing his ultimate goal. I don't completely agree with what he did to get there, but his quiet strength during the most awful moments is an inspiration to all of us. I greatly appreciated the emotional climax, but I did still wonder about all the people like Chris out there who chose a different path. I wouldn't mind seeing their story.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
briankrakow
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Member: Larry McGillicuddy
Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 114
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