heartwarming, tender, comforting

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2009)

I was a little reluctant before watching this movie, I have seen "Seven Pounds" recently, and found it disappointing (although saved by good acting) which, together with my low opinion of Muccino's Italian movies, contributed to my doubts on The pursuit of Happiness, but I had to reconsider my opinion, since I really appreciated it, and was able to stand the huge amount of advertising on Italian TV, which often destroys the pleasure of watching any movie.
The plot is evidently but not annoyingly marked by the solid American belief that man's efforts and commitment lead to success, with that maybe too optimistic faith that everything will turn better, and your sacrifices will once get the deserved prize (although life often shows something different), but there's no pretence of too much didascalism, it's a quite realistic portray of the hardships of life, with a happy ending aimed at leaving the audience with some self-confidence and trust in others.
The overall impression of anxiety, with all that running after people, appointments, occasions, is softened by some tender moments between father and son (at times melodramatic, but never too melodramatic) and also relieved by funny moments.
The movie gets to leave to viewer with a positive sense of fullness of life (it could be titled The Pursuit of Life, since life, not only happiness, is to be pursued in every aspect), of the necessity to find a reason to go on, both for yourself and for the dear ones, with a strong meaning that there are really few valuable things in life, all the rest is pure nonsense. Really contrasting with Seven pounds, where a man, on the contrary, gives up and chooses death, leaving the viewer with a sense of sad surrender and illogical, besides humanly disturbing, self-abandonment.
Will Smith truly fits the role, abandoning his rather blank face à la Fresh Prince of Bel Air, he offers a very effective and convincing performance and the young boy playing Christopher is really cute.