The Pursuit of Happyness is the latest in a ever extending line of films that Hollywood has pumped out repeatingly over the years, the inspirational and heartwarming true story of a man who pulled through near impossible circumstances, to do something extraordinary, in a way so great that a film was made depicting it. In The Pursuit of Happyness, that man is Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith. Living with his young son(Smith's real-life son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) and frustrated wife(Thandie Newton), Chris is poor, and without much room in his life for happiness. With a source of income consisting of selling portable bone density scanners, a machine once thought by the man when young to be a revolutionary item, but now mostly revealed as useless next to cheaper, more effective X-Rays, Chris's life is a struggle. Hardship all the time, and no breaks. After meeting a stock-broker on the street, and learning of his broker film holding an intern program, in light of his situation Chris decides to make the leap, attempting to enter the competitive world of intern stock broking. If accepted, he would enter a group of 20 interns, and after 6 months, only one would be chosen for the job. Only problem: There is no salary during the program.

The Pursuit of Happyness as expected, suffers from exactly what you would expect it to: It is always predictable, and it contains all the typical and formulaic Hollywood techniques to help make the audience feel good about their lives and how great an achievement this man made to end up being somebody. It's a tried and tested formula that can be found in multiple films every single month. To be honest however, to this writer most of the time these films work, such as in last year's excellent football story Invincible. In The Pursuit of Happyness, to put thing simply, not everything works. The biggest problem for The Pursuit of Happyness, is that it never feels like anything more than what it shows on the screen. The film consists of: A man and his son are poor with a worthless source of income, the man enters an internship to follow his dream of living comfortably, he gets even more poor and struggles to even survive in the city as a homeless man, he finally gets the job. The end. Throughout the running time, you are always looking for more from this film.

While you do feel sympathy for the characters on screen, you never do any more than you were expecting to with this genre of feel-good movie. In fact, there is almost a lack of connection to these characters, throughout the film there is never a sense of memorability to either Chris Gardner or his son Christopher, there is nothing seemingly unique that will make you remember this on-screen presence, nothing that stands out from the way Smith portrays him. Throughout the film, it seems to show the man going through massive struggles, but you just aren't as invested in these characters and people as you should be, you expect to feel emotional humps but it never quite delivers as much as it promises. Perhaps that defines this entire movie, nothing in the film is particularly memorable or unique, there's nothing that will make you see this film on the rack in 3-4 years and remember a great deal about it.

Will Smith is not Oscar nomination worthy in his role, however he is as always solid and likable in the lead role, showing both the caring side, as well as the sometimes ruthless and harsh side of Chris, who has a lot on his plate being homeless. Even more likable is his son Christopher, played by Jaden Smith. The character is cute, but effective. Thandie Newton doesn't have much to do but yell and nag as the played against wife, her character is not given kind treatment. It would've benefitted the film if even one scene of happiness was included between Chris and his wife, to show that these people do love each other, that they are grateful to be with each other, rather than have so many scenes of arguing and unhappiness. It is remarkable that a film with the word Happyness in its title could be so unhappy. The film is inspirational, telling of how we can become something if we try, yes. But, it never shows these people just having joy in their lives or a good time, despite their situation just laughing and being comfortable. A release from the constant struggle and hardships of the life that Chris has throughout the film, is something that is needed at least once throughout the running time.

Overall, The Pursuit of Happyness is exactly what it promises, yet another inspirational story and man that meets the Hollywood treatment, complete with a big star and plenty moments to make you tear up. It is a film that is neither good nor bad, just ultimately forgettable and what you would expect coming in.

C+

It's a very very decent movie. Great performances, very touching, it worked with me very well!!

But after all it's one of those movies that aim at the hearts very well while everything else is just 'average'!!

So I wouldn't let my emotions overrate the movie, but everything else has to be appreciated..

So it gets a B+ from me!!

I think the film spent too much time focusing on his life after he leaves his internship everyday and not really what's going on during his internship. I would have liked to see more of that and less of the repetitive shortcomings of Will Smith and his son. It's the same stuff over and over and over. But yeah, it's a sad movie, and I actually liked it. Will Smith's performance is excellent, Jaden is what you'd expect, and Thandie Newton is annoying as fuckkkk (although I guess that's her character, but still...).

B

I loved this movie. Loved every second. I even let out a tear at the end. I think Will Smith is excellent in the role. A career highlight for him. I'm also the biggest Will Smith fan (don't know why, he's just extremely likeable), so it wasn't that hard for me to like the movie.

I don't really care that the story was changed from the "true story". I suppose I would if it was my life story, but whatever.

Grade: A

B+


This is the best acting effort by Will Smith I have seen to date and that in a heartwarming movie to boot. Now, frankly, it is quite cheesy and corny at times, but it clicked well with me. I found it to be a bit too long for its own good and the screenwriting is certainly not the best I've seen last year, but the genuine performance by Smith and a surprisingly good turn by his son, Jaden elevate the film well above average. It's a good uplifting picture and what's great about it is how it is actually based on a miraculous true story which makes it even more powerful. There is some nice humor there, some sad scenes and the scene with the Rubic's Cube in the car is one of the most suspenseful scenes I have seen last year, hehe. The Pursuit of Happyness is not without its flaws, but it does belong to the better films of 2007 and I am pretty sure that Will Smith will sooner or later win an Academy Award.

Precisely my thoughts. Same grade even.

Will Smith's performance was great because of how controlled he kept it. It would have been very easy for him to make some parts of the movie a lot more cliched then they already were. The scene in in the middle third where he takes his son into the cave in the subway station has an intensely quiet sense of tragedy. I wish the rest of the film could have been as strong.

Finally saw it. Very solid film. Smith is great in it. Probably the best "Struggling Father" films I've seen in a very long time.

although it takes nearly as few risks as Dan in Real Life, it features a terrific lead performance from Will Smith and it really does hit every note it goes for, providing some laughs, providing more tears, and giving you a very strong emotional story. Sure, it's not a very realistic look at homelessness [I mean, it IS Will Smith after all], but I think it works better as a story of a man trying to succeed in life, as a businessman and as a father, and the struggles he goes through to get there. I don't think they even needed to have the homeless bit, he could've just been very poor and it would have been just as effective a story. But this REALLY showed Smith's acting chops, and makes me more excited to see future Oscar performance work from the man.

B+

Better than I thought it would be, but just didn't come off as strong or original as it could have. Smith is good (I liked him in Legend better).

B

The Pursuit of Happyness

Well, this is a lovely film. This type of film is right up my alley, especially since becoming a father. It doesn't put a step wrong. An emotional, touching, and rewarding experience. And surprisingly funny too. Will and Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (lol) were absolutely fantastic together. A great duo that they've not matched since. It is not only a biopic of rags to riches, it is also an crucial and relatable paternal feel-good movie, with its heart in the right place, and lessons aplenty. Why on Earth Will isn't striving to make more important films like this one, I will never understand. And Jaden manages his best, most real performance by age seven.

I also liked the cameo of the real Chris Gardner at the end. Not that I have ever seen him before, but it was so utterly obvious that I didn't need to have seen him before. Still, a nice touch.

A

Both times Smith has tried to recreate this film's feel-sad-then-feel-good-at-the-holidays success, any sense of uplift is drowned out by wildly overwrought and convoluted plots (Seven Pounds, Collateral Beauty).

I downloaded Seven Pounds last night. I'll never bother with Collateral Beauty.

I watched Seven Pounds last night. Damn, you weren't even joking! Total crap. Such a disappointment. I was under the impression (obviously misguided in hindsight) that Seven Pounds was generally liked, and that it was good, as I always feel it is mentioned in the same breath as The Pursuit of Happyness. But man, it's about as far from it in terms of quality as it could be. I'm not even going to bother with Collateral Beauty. Smith's career is so uneven. Really great films (Bad Boys, Men in Black, Enemy of the State, Ali) mixed with real crud (After Earth, Seven Pounds, Hancock, I Am Legend). There seems to be no in-between. Well, maybe Focus is.

Focus is another completely unfocused (pun intended ) mess.