What is the pursuit of happiness? Will Smith ponders this statement (“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” coined by Thomas Jefferson for the American Declaration of Independence) and hypotheses that it must be earned, sought and ultimately pursued if we are to truly appreciate what it is to be happy. And boy does Will try pursue happiness. Through his character Christopher Gardner, Will takes us on a journey through a six month period of Chris’ life where we experience his struggles during the early 80’s with homelessness while raising his toddler son, Christopher.
Loosely based on the real life story of Chris Gardner who founded the giant corporate brokerage firm Gardner Rich, The Pursuit of Happyness is ultimately a tale about rising above the hardships that are thrown at us and achieving our goals. (Don’t worry; it’s a deliberate misspelling of the title which explained at the beginning of the movie.) I am a huge fan of Will Smith from his Fresh Prince days (and I still know the title song from the show) and I’m usually one of the first in line when he has a new movie out. Happyness is a departure for Will from his epic, top grossing sci-fi adventures on the big screen. Will grasps this opportunity to showcase his acting talents as his life on film gets thrown from pillar to post. Nominated for an Oscar© for Best Actor, Will is supported by his real life son Jayden who plays his film son too.
One could be cynical and assume that there is an underlying moral sentiment running through the core of the movie about how through hard work and perseverance anyone can overcome any adversity…. While this may smack of ‘Hollywoodism’ especially with the Hollywood token happy ending but the genuine performance of Will supported admirably by his son overcome the sentimentality without taking away from a truly remarkable real life story.
For any trivia buffs, Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson on The Simpsons, co-stars in the film as one of Gardner's superiors and requests a donut from Gardener. This is a nod to Casellaneta's animated counterpart who shares a similar taste for donuts.
Loosely based on the real life story of Chris Gardner who founded the giant corporate brokerage firm Gardner Rich, The Pursuit of Happyness is ultimately a tale about rising above the hardships that are thrown at us and achieving our goals. (Don’t worry; it’s a deliberate misspelling of the title which explained at the beginning of the movie.) I am a huge fan of Will Smith from his Fresh Prince days (and I still know the title song from the show) and I’m usually one of the first in line when he has a new movie out. Happyness is a departure for Will from his epic, top grossing sci-fi adventures on the big screen. Will grasps this opportunity to showcase his acting talents as his life on film gets thrown from pillar to post. Nominated for an Oscar© for Best Actor, Will is supported by his real life son Jayden who plays his film son too.
One could be cynical and assume that there is an underlying moral sentiment running through the core of the movie about how through hard work and perseverance anyone can overcome any adversity…. While this may smack of ‘Hollywoodism’ especially with the Hollywood token happy ending but the genuine performance of Will supported admirably by his son overcome the sentimentality without taking away from a truly remarkable real life story.
For any trivia buffs, Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson on The Simpsons, co-stars in the film as one of Gardner's superiors and requests a donut from Gardener. This is a nod to Casellaneta's animated counterpart who shares a similar taste for donuts.
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