As deep and meaningful as a "Brady Bunch" episode

Rating: Null/10 (18 May 2011)

More than anything else I found this movie to be annoying. VERY annoying.
Here we have a hardworking, incredibly clever, ambitious young man who just CAN'T catch a break, no matter what. Carrots are continually dangling just out of reach for him. And went he manages to finagle a way to finally grab the carrot anyway, it's snatched from his grasp at the last moment, again, and again, and again. O.K., WE GET IT ALREADY! Chris has a tough life, please kindly quit beating us over the head with that bit of news.
The ceaseless portrayal of - increasingly unrealistic - misfortunes that make up Chrs' day to day existence just wears one down to watch. I mean, just how entertaining is to to see a deserving, bright, likable and capable individual get beaten up, mercilessly, on a daily basis? And then to have the throw-away ending of "Chris sold his company for a gazillion freaking dollars and now lives the life of culture and privilege that you'll likely never have" to scroll up on the screen as some sort of payback for the relentless, dehumanizing, drumming he endured for the whole balance of the film, was the ultimate in anti-climactic endings.
Is that it? Financial abundance is the cure-all for life's problems and lack of "happyness"? The basic premise of the film is just weak, hackneyed, cloying, and manipulative. Real life is a lot more gray, complicated, AND interesting than this sort of Horatio Alger propaganda. And ultimately the movie succeeded only in just pissing me off. I can't recommend it.