La ricerca della felicità

Chris Gardner is a struggling salesman who finds himself having to look after his son when his wife gives up and leaves him. Using his charm as much as his academic record, Chris wins his way onto an internship programme of twenty, with only one job at the end. He has the determination to make it but with no salary and almost no income from his sales efforts, Chris finds himself homeless and increasingly desperate as he tries to keep up with his peers by day and survive the rest of the time.

This is an unusual film that, were it totally successful, could be called a victim of that success. Certainly the story it is telling is uplifting and very much testimony to the determination and courage of one man to make it despite tremendous odds. OK so he is not diving into burning buildings to save babies but it is still an engaging and inspiring story because of the sheer endless scale of the challenge and disappointment. It also helps that the sheer weight of soul-destroying challenges that he works through makes it almost impossible for all but the hardest hearted viewer not to feel happy for Chris when he finally makes it (as we know he ultimately will, or else his story would not be a film!) even if "making it" is "making money", which some viewers may find to be not totally worthy in itself. Ironically though this same weight of events also works against the film because it does make it a consistently hard watch. It is praise in a way because I personally tensed up with every added sorrow and this happened because of how convincing and heartbreaking this festival of misery and unfairness was.

A massive part of this working as well as it does is Smith's performance. I last saw him in I Am Legend where I thought that the narrative development in that film totally undid his wonderfully convincing performance in the first half. Here again he is quite brilliant – utterly convincing, showing a flicker of spirit deep within him while also clearly showing each kick, each challenge on his increasingly worn face. Smith junior could have been one of those terribly cute-kid type roles but just about avoids it. Sure he is cute but he is not annoying, mainly because of how natural he is. I think he is really helped by the fact that he does seem to be able to act (or at least "pretend") but more than he already has a relationship with his father that feeds their on screen one. They work well together but ultimately the film is owned by Will Smith, who is great.

Overall then this is an engaging and ultimately inspiring film but not one that is a lot of fun to watch. By virtue of how convincing Smith and the overall delivery is, I felt the tension in my own body, felt the crushing blows of each misfortune or challenge. It helps the film in a way but it did seem like the "uplifting" material is a long time coming.

Here's the deal: It's real, it's heavy, and it's inspirational, but NOT AT ALL cheesy. Don't like that? Don't see it. I won't say much else. I will say that Will Smith was shockingly good now that he's paid his dues with "Men in Black" and "Bad Boys."

I was very happy that this film never got political and blamed Reagan for the number of "down on their luck" people that were shown, nor was the race card ever pulled out. It was also refreshing that Smith's character never blamed anybody for his troubles.

It's very funny at parts, but be prepared for some serious drama. In no ways is it cliché or contrived or boring. Let's just say that's it not Oliver Stone dramatic. This truly is a must see. To say "I laughed, I cried" would be really lame. It is the truth, though.

We know that Scorsese's crowning achievement "The Departed" is going to take the cake at the Oscars, and I won't be complaining. But this movie deserves to be experienced and taken in by the masses.

If you ever wanted to see a movie that portrayed what really makes a man, then you must see this movie.

Forget Stalone. Forget Arnold. Forget Bond. Forget all those romantic comedy whimps. Bruce Willis never had to make this many life threatening decisions in Die Hard.

Will Smith gives a better performance of toughness here than he did portraying Muhammed Ali.

This movie is raw. This movie will force you to examine your manhood. See if you can look in the mirror after watching this film.

Fathers, don't let the PG-13 rating fool you. This movie is not for kids. If you let your child see this movie you may regret it. Your child may never be able to look at you the same way again. Your child will wonder why you are not more like Chris Gardner.

I was fortunate to see this movie in a screening. I really enjoyed it, and felt that it lived up to the teary and heartwarming trailer. While the movie has an uplifting "go for your dreams" message, the deepest theme is that of family.

Will Smith did a great job as the father trying to protect his son from their circumstances of becoming homeless as much as he can, while at the same time trying to work in the competitive world of stocks as an un-paid intern. Jaden Smith was outstanding as the preschool-aged kid who knows things are going wrong and tries to have a stiff upper lip, but just can't do it all the time.

The story is very touching and was close to home for me. My family has been through some tough times, and this movie just reminded me of how much my parents struggled to provide for our family and yet kept life fun as much as they could. I am excited to go see this with my parents as a way to say thank you.

I was involved with one of the first test audiences almost a year ago, and came away quite impressed with the acting performances and heartfelt punch of Pursuit of Happiness. This is easily one of Smith's best films, as he pours his heart and soul into the main character. While the plot may remain a bit transparent, it leaves you asking the question of yourself - how long would you keep battling to get what you really want out of life? I plan on seeing the film again when it releases to the general public, and am very interested to see what changes were made after running it through the test screenings. As I saw it then, it needed very few, if any, changes.