Will Smith delivers an Oscar-worthy performance in one of the most frustrating
yet ultimately fulfilling dramas of
the year. Based on the true story of Christopher
Gardner, the purposely mispelled The Pursuit of Happyness is certainly
a tear-jerker, yet surprisingly motivational and inspirational at the same time.
The film teams Smith and his real-life son Jaden as a father and son duo who suffer through just about everything in 1970''s San Francisco. After his wife (Thandie Newton) leaves him and her child, the struggling salesman is forced to make ends meet no matter what. Barely holding onto an apartment and a life, he decides to risk everything and pursue a life he wasn''t born into. Gifted with a natural sense for mathematics, Gardner applies for a competitive internship at a high stakes brokerage firm. Only one person out of an entire class will get the job, and the internship pays nothing. In the meanwhile, Gardner struggles to make things work at home, and is eventually forced to move into homeless shelters and eat from soup lines to make ends meet.
Nearly flawless, Happyness ''s only problem is that we''ve seen stories
like this before. The good thing is that this movie does it better, offers terrific
performances and for once provides a black man in a drama where race is never
really an issue. To note, I saw this movie at one of the first test screenings
months before its release, and was even involved in a focus group where many
of the problems with the film were discussed. For instance, Newton''s character
is never explained or developed enough to establish why she would abandon her
child, and there are a couple minor pacing issues in the middle. The musical
score was also not complete, and some audience members, while liking the film,
complained that it took too heavy of a toll on their emotions. However, if the
studio even improves on just a couple of these small issues, they will have
an Oscar candidate on their hands.