Watched this movie with caution as this was marketed as another “Based on a real story” tag line and most of the times movies like these over hype the protagonist character with cliché scenes with almost the mostly similar rags to riches story and living up the American dream, “Pursuit of Happyness” contains most of the above mentioned qualities.
Chris Gardner(Will Smith) is a struggling salesman who’s wife(Thandie Newton) becomes frustrated with their way of life, leaves him and his son to go get a better life.
Chris and Christopher(Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) are on their own. Chris lucks out and gets an internship at a stock brokerage. He’s one of twenty people fighting for a spot at the brokerage and he is constantly the underdog. Whether it be having to be the one to stop his work and get a donut for an executive or walking into work with one shoe and being stared at the entire way into the office area.
With the good(Winning the internship) comes the bad(He gets no pay, which in real life, he did, but in the movie, he didn’t) Chris spends the next six months of his internship living off the earnings of the remaining stock of his product he invested in. He and his son have no stable home. One night they are in a hotel and then the next they’ll be sleeping at a homeless shelter and some nights in the bathroom of a subway station.
Performance wise, Its Will Smith all the way, there are no other characters well defined. And Smith does not disappoint and shines in certain scenes. Smith’s transformation to "A" list actor is complete. The chemistry between him and his son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith is not much to talk about, most of the
times the kid is shown as an extra luggage he has to tug along everywhere. Thandie Newton, spends most of her screen time with a frown plastered upon her face. One nice surprise is Homer Simpson acting; Dan Castellaneta has a role as Alan Frakesh, one of the big boys of the company Chris is trying to work for.
Although this movie had its moments, I felt that the story moved to slow to make it entertaining. With lines like “This part of my life is called running “(duh), after an hour of this movie I wasn’t even paying attention anymore, I was just waiting for him to get the damn job and get rich. In my opinion it was all filler and no killer, a movie only worth seeing if you want to be inspired or have to spend the day with your mother.