By Avanti Chajed
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Monday, Jan. 1, 2007, The OG, arts

WHEN I FIRST saw the trailer for “The Pursuit of Happyness” my curiosity was aroused. The cast seemed talented and the movie looked like it was directed well.

The plot is, for the most part, a true story about the real Chris Gardner, who went from poverty and hardships to being a successful stockbroker and owning his own company.

The movie opens with Chris, played in a stunning performance by Will Smith, struggling to sell the last of his portable bone-marrow density scanners, in which he invested all of his savings.

Unfortunately, all of the doctors he visits think the scanners are unnecessary. Still he keeps trying, even when his wife leaves him and he must take care of their son, Christopher (played by Smith's real-life son, Jaden Smith).

By chance Gardner meets a successful stockbroker, and from that point on he is determined to become one. Just as he is persistent at selling the scanners, Chris keeps trying to gain an audience with a partner at Dean Witter.

As expected, Chris manages to get a six-month internship, but he isn't paid during this time and only one person is chosen for a permanent position at the end of the six months. There are no prizes for guessing who gets the job.

Most of the movie focuses on these six months. Chris is thrown out of his apartment and is always pressed for money. But he keeps going and continues to work hard so he can get the job.

There were scenes here that seemed rather unbelievable. Though it might have been possible that a rich prospective client would invite Gardner and his son to a baseball game, I felt it was a little too good to be true.

With such an overused story line, “The Pursuit of Happyness” could easily have been a flop, but the great cast and Italian director Gabriele Muccino make it work. Will Smith and his son work well together, and the moments with just the two of them are charming. Both of them also act well on their own, which makes up for the clichéd plot.

Gardner's quest to find happiness, however, is what truly sets this movie apart from the rest in its genre. After thinking about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Gardner realizes that “maybe happiness is something we can only pursue; maybe we can never have it,” and pursue it he does.

He tries as hard as he can to make money for the basic necessities of life without receiving help from anyone. The movie especially portrays this when Chris hides his poverty when he goes to meet the rich prospective client.

Muccino also does not let you get away from the movie without shedding at least one tear. Regardless of the scattered moments of humor, most of the movie focuses on the hardships. Chris Gardner goes from one difficulty to another, and at the same time he has to hide his problems from his son and his fellow interns. At times, though, this becomes a little irksome and can make the viewer briefly lose interest in the movie.

Overall “The Pursuit of Happyness” is worth seeing. For a feel-good movie it was definitely on the gloomy side and at times it was reassuring to know that at last the ending would be a happy one. This was the first English language film for Muccino, and hopefully we'll see more of him once he has some original story lines.

“The Pursuit of Happyness” is now playing at the Savoy 16 (click here for times) and Beverly Cinema 18 (click here for times). Runtime: 117 minutes. Rated: PG-13.

RELATED

— The film's official site