In Pursuit of real Happyness. Review on The Pursuit of Happyness Movie

You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period" There comes around only certain such movies in your lifetime which at the first glance you would not like to watch and then you would like to chew your foot with the shoe and your words, garnished with Heinz tomato ketchup for not seeing it in the first place. Pursuit of HAPPYNESS(with the intentional misspelling) is one such movie which did more than just entertain and invoke and provoke. It opened up a small window of humility and self efficacy in me.

Living on your own and surviving the odds are macho but taking care of a five year old, striving to be a able parent and abler role model for your Son, not succumbing to easier but more prolific and slanderous way to earn a livelihood and dedication and perseverance and desperate yet respectful urge to make it through, if not to make it BIG, is what I call heroic.

This part of my review is called artistic criticism

The website, About.com reports about the artistic license that the movie takes to relate and elevate the emotional adage to the movie. In real life Chris Gardner’s son was 2 when the events depicted in the film took place. The film ages him to 5-years-old, and Gardner was fine with that decision. “I understood that. You've got to give these guys some license. My son was 2 years-old when we were going through this. Did we have dialogue? Yeah. But there's obviously more you can do when the child is a little older. Give them some license. I’ve got to tell you I saw one scene last night where my son says something to me that is probably the most important thing he's ever said to me in his life when he says, ‘Papa, you're a good papa.’ In the book, I had a chance to talk about where I was emotionally, how frightened I was. To have this boy at 2 years-old stand up and say you're a good papa, and have that incorporated into the script and the movie that was the big thing for me.”

Agreed that the movie might have upped the movies emotional scenes to create an effect, but that can be excused since the overall performance and its effect makes up for whatever “artistic license “ Director Gabriele Muccino took to make his movie a celluloid success.

And this part of my review is what I call UNDERSTANDING THE MOVIE

Will Smith gives his, what I would state, his best performance till date, essaying the role of Chris Gardner, and I wonder what made him miss the Oscar for Best Performance in a Lead Role, which in other word would be Best Actor to Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland” . Smith’s portrayal as the bereaved and fate struck father, heaved on with the responsibility of not only having to work to pay off debts, but also raise a child and ensure that the seeming normal life for the child is not suddenly snatched away and replaced with obscurity and poverty.

Brilliance would be a understatement when we see Will smith bring Chris Gardner to celluloid life, and sheer excellence would be the emotional portrayal of a broken down man who cried silently, huddling his son inside the subway toilet, and yet moments before, caressed his son while holding back his emotions, smiling and encouraging his son and cheering him up at the lonely subway station, talking about the “the bone-density scanners-time machine-dinosaurs”. This sequence moments before, to ensure that the child doesn’t go through the trauma of the sheer helplessness of the situation they were actually going through, is one such scene where Smith shines through brilliantly. Certain sequences in the movie underplay the pain and terror of certain situation that Chris was originally into, but all that gets negated in comparison to the ballistic performance of Will smith as Chris Gardner and Jaden Christopher Smith(Will’s own Son) as Christopher – son of Chris Gardner.

The kid was probably the surprise package of them all, and though its easy to write-off this little wonder’s performance as natural and expected chemistry he shares with his real dad, with whom he shared the screen presence with, Jaden shows maturity in his brief but important role as Christopher, Chris Gardner’s son. While Will showed his brilliance through emotions and dialogues, Jaden sparkled through with his mere presence, being the pivotal character in the movie. Without Christopher in tow, the pain and suffering and ideologies and chances and characteristic decisions that Chris took, would be passable and not feat worthy- worthy of a tale to be told.

And this part of my review is what I call APPRECIATION

The dialogues and stories which form a part of the dialogues is superb and lend so much innocence and yet incredible repeat value to the movie. The Jokes and the anecdotes which happen between Christopher and Chris will remain forever memorable.

The story of two boats and the missed chance, the story of protecting your dreams and the feeling of integrity and reverence lights up the moments. I remember reading somewhere that CHRIS GARDNER was skeptical about Smith portraying his character and he mentions somewhere his concerns about this man who has made his career killing Aliens and strange beasts, playing a down trodden father. Well, you would just have to see the movie to know that no body, absolutely no body could have done the role as good as Smith did- the vulnerability, the realism, the tears and the smiles, all genuine artistry.

My personal favorite would be the end of the internship scene when he is called to the Board room. The expressions, of SMITH trying hard to hide his fears and then subsequently tears poring down his eyes as he shook hands before leaving the room is what I call SUPERB, OUTSTANDING, PROLIFIC.

I can spend hours telling about the movie, but I can never tell enough of what it did to change my outlook to life, inspiring me to quit a somewhat comfy job to pursue my dreams, and yes I have been Happy after that .

"You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. You want something? Go get it. Period"

To end I would like to quote something I found on the internet which commented on how many times "inspired by" films feel like hard sells or bids for Oscar glory and yet "Pursuit of Happiness" is none like that.

“This is an honest, meaningful film that will stay with you long after you leave the theatre. The viewer becomes fully invested in the struggles of Chris Gardner and his son. Will and Jaden Smith deserve huge kudos. The real-life father and son dynamic enriched the film and don't know if other actors could have been as powerful. Be warned, there are several tissue inducing moments. This movie is well worth a ticket!”- Lisa Ann Sanders