Will Smith is worth the price of admission

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2007)

What this film lacks in real story depth, it makes up for in the emotional depth of Will Smith's tremendous performance. While I haven't seen Ali, in my opinion, this is Will Smith's best performance.
The story is about a real-life man named Chris Gardner who hits rock bottom financially but tries to keep himself and his young son afloat by applying for a stock broker training program. Unfortunately the program comes without a pay-check and it forces Gardner to keep at his previous job of selling high-density bone scanners to clinics and hospitals. To further divulge any of the story will really defeat the purpose of seeing the film, in my opinion. However, I have known about Gardner's story for a couple of years already. You might have already seen a feature on him on NBC's Dateline or ABC's 20/20, I can't remember which. To know where Gardner eventually ends up, its a real inspiration to see the hard journey that it took to get him there.
My only complaint about the film comes from the fact it doesn't offer much story depth. Whether some aspects were cut or not, I'll have to find out myself; Gardner has written a memoir with the same title. Where this film succeeds is with Smith. Will Smith has an uncanny ability to draw people into whatever role he is playing. He's funny and extremely genuine in this film and those two abilities are important in telling this story. I'm not sure anyone else could have played this role any better. Why it works is because you feel for the character and the struggles he goes through and his triumphs. What also must not go unnoticed is the chemistry between real-life father and son combo of Will and Jaden Smith. It certainly helps the film because the two ultimately depend on each other for support.
Inspirational true stories such as this are sometimes over-dramatized by Hollywood, but not this one. It feels real and it doesn't go out of its way to take advantage of emotional moments.