The Pursuit of Happyness (there is a reason for the misspelling, which becomes clear when you watch the film) is based on a true life rags to riches tale. In it we watch Chris Gardner, who has sunk his entire savings into portable bone density scanners which he finds very few doctors actually have a need for, and everything is now going downhill. His partner, Linda, has to continually work double shifts and is threatening to walk out, bills are continuing to mount, and his son Christopher has to attend a substandard day care centre because it’s so much cheaper than all the others.

There seems to be just one glimmer of hope – an internship scheme at a stockbrokers (where everyone looks happy because they have money). The fact that this internship is not salaried for months and only one out of the twenty interns will go on to have a job (isn’t that called slavery?!?!) is a problem, but it seems to be his big chance.

Basically, this movie is all about surviving in desperate circumstances (this time purely financial rather than wars, earthquakes etc), and the extraordinary determination Chris shows in meeting his goals. The first portion of the film did, I felt, show him to be rather stupid in places, which is a large part of the reason he gets in so much trouble3 to begin with, and this prevented me from really sympathising with the character that much. The direction is a little confused early on in the film, with the mood and music coming across as a serious drama, but several comedy elements that really felt forced. The latter half of the film had no such problems however; the character became much easier to sympathise with (he still had negative qualities but then who doesn’t, especially under extreme circumstances), the dramatic aspect of the film much more involving, and the comedy occurred spontaneously and naturally. The last third or so really drew you into what was happening.

Will Smith gives a strong performance as Chris (though I could have done without the voiceover that occasionally intruded on the film), and his real-life son Jaden is very good as his on-screen son here. I felt Thandie Newton’s character seemed a little superfluous to the movie, but it was understandable why. There were several other good performances from the businessmen, including Brian Howe and Dan Castellaneta. The film is set in 1981 and has some good period detail like an advert for Robert De Niro in “Raging Bull” on a taxi cab, the phenomena of the Rubik’s Cube, and Ronald Regan talking about the budget.

The film’s message seemed a little over-simplified to me: money = happiness. It is almost the antithesis of the idealistic “money doesn’t matter” films that have appeared over the years, and the truth is that neither extreme is entirely correct. The fact that love for his son motivated so much of what he did at least redeemed the film's message to a large degree though. There were a few unanswered questions but this didn’t bother me. The music by Andrea Guerra is effective and there are some great songs mixed into the score.

It took me a long time to come up with my final rating for this film. There are lots of things to like about it, and a lot that could have been better, to. Overall I think it’s definitely worth watching, but I’m not convinced that it’s worth more than 3 stars, so that’s what I’ve rated it. Needless to say, Will Smith fans will enjoy this more than others.

Other Information

Director: Gabriele Muccino
MPAA rating PG-13 for some language (UK rating 12A)
Runtime: 117 min


The real Chris Gardner’s story can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Gardner

There are quite a few differences between the movie and the true story – see http://www.imdb.com/rg/title-tease/faq-question/title/tt0454921/faq#.2.1.2 for more details (but DON’T read this before watching the film!)

Quotes

Christopher Gardner: Probably means there's a good chance. Possibly means we may or may not.
Christopher: Okay.
Christopher Gardner: So, what does probably mean?
Christopher: It means we have a good chance.
Christopher Gardner: And what does possibly mean?
Christopher: It means we're not going to the game.

--------

Christopher: What are you doing?
Christopher Gardner: Paying a parking ticket.
Christopher: ...But we don't have a car anymore.
Christopher Gardner: Yeah, I know...


Links

Will Smith also starred as Del Spooner in I, Robot


See also: My Top Ten Movies of 2006

Recommended: Yes