“It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I remember thinking: how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue? And maybe we can actually never have it, no matter what. How did he know that?”
Leading Cast: Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Smith, Brian Howe
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Screenplay: Steven Conrad
Watch this when: You are feeling down; there are plenty of people worse off than you, and your circumstances are not permanent!
The Pursuit of Happyness is a roller coaster. It takes you from bright, shiny moments to those of cringe-worthy pity. These moments include just barely missed opportunities, untrustworthy hippies, and expensive cab fares. It is honestly hard to watch, like watching someone repeatedly kicked while they are down. But I would advise you to keep watching.
The Pursuit of Happyness (mistakenly spelled with a Y by the immigrant owners of a daycare) is the story of Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith), his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) and his son Christopher (Jaden Smith). Chris spends his days dropping his young son off at day care then running around the Bay Area trying to sell bulky bone density machines, which we learn are an expensive alternative to the x-ray that many doctors offices don’t have the budget for. He returns home to his family and arguments about missed rent and bills.
Chris is in pursuit of happiness. He is smart; there is a memorable scene including a Rubix cube that proves this point. Most importantly, Chris is good with numbers and people. Chris’ fate changes when he spots a man with an expensive red car outside a brokerage firm who tells him that you don’t need a college degree to be a stockbroker; you just need to be “good with numbers and good with people.”
If Chris is an optimist, Linda is definitely his realist counterpart. Chris’ pursuit of happiness is impractical at times, which provides serious risks to him and his family. Chris is not the only one in the pursuit of happiness, however; Linda begins to wonder what her definition of happiness is.
Happiness (and the idea of) is a huge theme, from brightly colored crowds smiling on the sidewalk to the soundtrack choices. There are shots of happy people in convertibles turning the corner in front of a line at the homeless shelter. Chris sees people outside the brokerage firm smiling and happy, and then you follow him inside and see the mayhem and hear the shouting that is reality. At a particular low point, Chris mentions Thomas Jefferson and the chosen word of ‘pursuit’, wondering if happiness is actually attainable.
Will Smith is stellar as Chris Gardner. His portrayal of a man who has lost so much but still has hope is perfection. Jaden Smith is simply adorable, running to stay in stride with his father and announcing his nickname at day care is ‘Hot Rod’. Their chemistry is wonderful. The scenes with just these two were probably my favorite scenes. The love Chris feels for his son is palpable, and his desire for him to have the best is evident.
I enjoyed this movie. While hard to watch at times the story was entertaining, but Will Smith is what makes the movie for me; he received a well deserved Oscar nomination. He brings a desperation and drive to the character that I will remember this movie for. The fact that he was able to do that when his character was running for a large majority of the movie is even more impressive. Adding Jaden to play his son was just icing on the cake.