Good.Period.

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2008)

I've mentioned in many occasions that sometimes it's good to let yourself go with a film, let yourself carry away by a story even when you know exactly what's going to happen. Well, if you know movies, you'll realize that you know the whole development of "The pursuit of happiness" when the film begins. Of course, it's such a touching film that I don't even have to recommend that you let yourself go, because it will come automatically.
Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a fighter who wants the best for his family and tries hard to get it but apparently is not enough. His wife (an overacted Thandie Newton), incapable of dealing with the poverty they're immersed in, leaves him. Chris doesn't make much (in fact he's due with the rent and there are scenes where he just has five dollars in his wallet and he has to run from a taxi driver because he can't pay), wants to keep his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) who goes to a caretaker that has the word "happyness" misspelled on a wall. "It's with an I", he tells the janitor. Chris deserves a shot like the one he eventually gets.
A movie like this one needs to establish familiarities, because it's about family, and probably Gabriele Muccino, whose wonderful "Ricordati di me" deals with family, was a wise choice for the job. He shoots the city, accompanying Chris in his endeavors and takes the time to show us iconic characters that will appear from time to time throughout the film; like a bump who thinks a product Chris sells is a time machine, or a couple of hippies who steal this product from him. Muccino also makes sure that we believe the father-son relationship that defines the film, filming the kid with tenderness, as we see a shot of him walking alongside his father, but we see the kid's face and body and only the father's waist and feet.
But it would have been the same if Muccino hadn't paid attention to this 'family' issue, because the chemistry between Will Smith and his son is instantaneous, natural and the main reason to watch the movie. Smith, a charismatic, versatile and popular actor, gives here what I can simply define as a winning performance; because he wins as an actor by fulfilling a new challenge, his character wins in the story, and he wins the audience, that is amazed by scenes in which Smith and his son, and no one else, generate magic.
Going back to what started this review, I ask: does it matter that "The pursuit of happiness" is inspired by a true story? Yes, because it instantly changes the perspective of the viewer, who will deliberate how 'true' the events presented are. I believe that if I'm going to let myself go, a movie has to be fair with me; this means it has to keep things between the limits of reality, and if things happen that are too unreal, there only has to be few of them.
"The Pursuit of Happiness" is unfair to the viewer, because it plays with him by repeating situations that at some point he has to stop believing; or at least that's how I felt. Is it possible that man doesn't find a pen in his own house after his wife has taken everything and has to go to a store around the block to write a number down? Yes, it's possible, but I couldn't find it believable after all the similar extreme situations that the film's main character had been constantly going through before that exact moment.
I don't think this is a bad or a regular movie; I think it's a good movie. Period. Could it have been great? I really don't care, because the fact that it's based on a true life story and Smith's performance make it more moving, and because Steve Conrad finds a great help in the narrated parts of his script, that make the repetitive parts of the movie seem less repetitive.
Also, I don't doubt the real Chris Gardner went through all these things; maybe it was just too much to include in a two-hour movie.