I saw this movie last night with my wife and I have to say right off that this movie was excellent. Will Smith's acting was top-notch. His real-life son who plays his son in the movie was phenomial. I was very impressed. I would give it 4 our of 5 stars.
The movie is based on the real-life story of Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) who, at a point of his life where he is absolutely struggling to get by as a salesman. Without giving away too much, his wife ends up leaving him, unable to take the situation any longer.
Chris struggles to dig his way out by entering a 6-month stock broker internship, without pay, with 20 other guys out of which only one guy will get hired into the firm, and no guarentee of a job elsewhere. Take a risk because he isn't sure he can get by. During this time he ends up teetering (if not falling) into abject poverty for a while. His stuggling live is the entire movie, really, and it is very emotional. You want to get depressed and to cry as you watch what happens. It is very, very real and, because of this, makes it kind of hard to watch--however enjoyable the movie is due to its high quality.
In the end...we'll, if you haven't seen it I won't say anymore. It ends well, but the movie is highly emotional. It makes you grateful for all the things with which God has bless us because we could easily be in that situation is things were different. Chris Gardner was smart, dedicated and so on, but was just having troubles getting somewhere. He was a bit of a risk-taker (the sale job he had was selling some bone density scanners that he has to pay for himself before selling, and they didn't end up selling well). That was both a good and bad thing. Even this internship was taking a risk.
The movie is an interesting exploration of a father's dedication to his son, a man's desire to succeed, what one is able to endure when things get hard, the emotions one suffers through when things get hard, etc.
The only negative thing I would have to say about the movie is that it suggests, quite clearly actually, that happiness (or "happyness" as it is written, on purpose) is to be found in financial and career success. Family is suggested as a source of happiness, too, but the pursuit here is for financial and career happiness, not life and family happiness. The other elements I mentioned above outway this negative, but nevertheless, it is there.
This kind of thing can never make you happy. For example, Chris Gardner could have taken a less risky route, taken a safer, but lesser paying job and provided for his family that way. It wouldn't have been as "triumphant"--again, I love the story--but he could have still been happy, no? God, family, living right--these things ultimately bring us happiness, not money.
This is a bit of a philosophical point. Today, Chris Gardner is a millionaire. Is he more happy that before? Less struggles, for sure, at least financially. But I don't know if he is happy--deep in his soul, that is. Are any of us happy if we have stuff? Does it fill our souls and satisfy us? I know our first reaction is "definitely doesn' t hurt", but does it really satisfy? Just something to hink about. You can read about my thoughts on satisfaction on my other blog @ Challenges of Finding Satisfaction.
The movie's official site is @ http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness/.
You can read about Chris Gardner @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Gardner.
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