Acting-wise, Will Smith's performance was good but not very awards-worthy. Though he manages to shake off his trademark Will Smith persona most of the time, there was nothing particularly strong about his performance that made it particularly stand out. Thandie Newton has the more showy role and works well as a de-glamorized, unlikeable character. Smith's son was cute but not much more.

The script was pretty standard and felt very fictionalized with too many scenes involving chance coincidental bumping into people on the street. And the movie wasn't as emotional/sentimental as it could have been, instead relying on too many chase sequences.

Still a decent enough movie that is generally good, so I give it a B.

I kinda agree, but was much more enthused. It really isn't anything /that/ special, and there are more than a few issues (ackward dialogs, pacing, the wife character, cheesiness) that plague much of the film. However, I thought Smith's performance was very particularly strong. And I found the film to be incredibly affective. It's got devastating downs and ecstatic ups, and I felt for and with this guy every step of the way..

How did you guys see it?

Magic, Amer. Magic.

I would understand that question if we were talking about Spider-Man 3 or Transformers.

Well, if you are on facebook, there's a Chase +1 Group that's sponsoring dozens of screenings nationwide, most if not all on college campuses. It might not be too late for you to go to a local screening in your area.

no one saw it this weekend?

It was a decent movie, but Will Smith was hyped way too much. He was okay, but nothing that is worthy of any awards. The boy who played his son was great, though.

B

Will Smith delivers a career-best performance in this touching and heartwarming drama. The film itself is incredibly interesting and well-written, not once coming off as cheesy or convulted. Jaden Smith and Thandie Newton also deliver great supporting performances as well. An excellent inspirational film that is certainly one of the year's strongest efforts.

A-

Really great performances all around from Will Smith, and Jayden Smith. Even though you knew it was coming, it was still extremely sad all the shit he went through. Really sad movie. Only complaint I have is I which I could have seen him succeed a little more and see his bitch of wife burn in hell. A-

I also forgot to comment on this.

This is an enormously uplifting film that relied on less melodrama and manipulation than I expected. Will Smith is wonderful, as is his son Jayden. Thandie Newton is not given any favors by the production, stuck playing a one-dimensional shrew for her brief running time. Feel-good (at least by the end of the film) to the max. B+

It's a simplistic yarn, and I felt like half the movie was pretty much Will Smith rushing to get to places on time, but I was entertained and really, really moved.

I loved it. Bit of a surprise.

A-

A very engaging film overall, even though it dragged in various parts toward the climax. The story is pretty simple and didn't offer much surprise, but it is effective. My emotion went up and down without feeling being manipulated. I especially like the idea of focusing on his daily hardship outside work instead of the internal competition in the firm. Performance-wise, Will Smith is terrific, and Jayden Smith is cute; not very fond of Thandie Newton. I guess I'm becoming less and less impressed with the "showy" characters.

B

The film is very good, but there is nothing to make it really stand out among other films of its kind. Will Smith is very good as well as his son, but I can't help but get the feeling that there's something missing. I can't really put my finger on it.

That saying, I'm giving the film a good grade because the film is still very interseting, most thanks to the work put in by Smith and his son.

A-

By the way. Am I the only one who thought Gardner should've walked up to his son at the end holding another Captain America doll? The ending is pretty good and heart-warming as it is, but I think if he would've pulled out a replacement doll for his son, that would've brought the house down.

I never had big expectations for this movie. Never looked that good in the trailers, but I loved it. It's a wonderful movie and Smith & his son were fantastic. Easily deserving his oscar nomination. A-

The reason this film succeeds so well is because of it's relentless tearing down of the characters, bit by bit. At every moment when you think things are about to get better for Chris and his son, it only gets worse. And we see things fall so far down the gutter to the point that Chris just doesn't know what to do; there is a point where there are absolutely no options available and Chris has to in a sense trick his son into sleeping in a subway washroom overnight. We hear the rattle and banging on the washroom door for someone to use the washroom as Chris holds his son tight and hopes for this person to go away. And once again, we are subjected to the relentlessness of it all; the fucker just won't go away, and all we hear is the banging, and rattling, and banging and rattling, and Will Smith spoke it all in his face; I knew exactly what he was thinking. This moment was particularly harrowing and very effective.

Simply put, this film was a lot less sugar-coated than I expected it to be. In fact, the only scene I outright did not like was when he was telling his son not to let anyone tell him what to do or who to be. That was the only typical sappy moment in a film that was actually rather underplayed and simple. There were other things here and there I didn't like in the film, and it's by no means perfect, but Will Smith always played the awkwardness so well. It just added to the humiliation of how low he had to go, how low he felt.

By the time Chris wins the internship and gets the job, he's been through so bloody much, and the scene actually MEANS something. Smith again played this well, with no silly over dramatic jumping or skipping and silliness for having gotten the job. Just a quiet determination to not cry on the spot, and the feeling that he now felt as happy as the people on the street looked, an observation that he made around the beginning of the film.

And that's it. While Will Smith may not have been particularly showy, I felt he created a well toned, underplayed performance, and I as actually quite impressed. Maybe he deserved the Oscar nomination, maybe he didn't, but all I know is I'm not complaining. He did very well, in my opinion. It's pretty cool to think how far he has come from the beginning.

B+

Peace,
Mike.

C+

A mostly forgettable rags to riches story. I wasn't very enthused throughout it.

Will Smith's son is adorable. That's about it. Best Actor nod not deserved.

C-

I was a little worried I was the only one who didn't like this movie much, but I'm glad to see a few others didn't think it was all that great. I felt that the movie dragged on too long and tried too hard to make you feel sorry for Will Smith's character. I had a hard time keeping myself interested in and often found my mind wandering. I was a little surprised by that, too, since I usually enjoy these types of movies. But anyway...

C

I would've liked if its scope was a bit... wider? It's hard to explain, but I kind of feel like the entire movie was Chris and his wife/kid are poor, he gets internship, gets even more poor and sleeps in bathroom, etc., and finally gets job. The end. I would've liked if the whole movie wasn't just an in-depth look at how much this guy is struggling. Maybe start the movie with him meeting the wife, the birth of Christopher, the beginning of the scanner deal, and then go from there. Show a bit more depth into Chris Gardner himself and his life outside the intern deal, how he grew up, how he met the daycare center, etc.

And for the comments about the film not being manipulative... How about the fact that they changed the source material being Chris's actual story, in real life he actually had a salary during the internship. They changed it for dramatic tearjerking and sentimental value for the audience, Hollywood-ized it.

Oh, goodness, that would have made the movie 15 hours long.

That would've been a terrible idea.

Well in shortened clips near the beginning of the movie, to preserve running time, obviously.

Great film. The emotion was there, i almost cried seriously, but they cut to the next scenes to fast that they didnt let me shed the damn tear.

B+