Never give up

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2009)

A father and salesman is in "The Pursuit of Happiness" in this 2006 film starring Will Smith, Thandie Newton, and Jaden Smith. This is the real-life story of Chris Gardner, who was eking out a living selling bone density scanners while his wife (Newton) worked double shifts at a hospital. They weren't making it financially. One day Gardner sees a man get out of fancy car and asks him how he made it. The man says he's a stockbroker. Chris applies to the Dean Witter Reynolds apprentice program, unaware that there's no salary. He gets in by being terribly persistent. Then his wife leaves him, and Chris insists that their son (Jaden Smith) be left with him.
"Pursuit of Happiness" is a very warm and above all, a very inspiring story about family, determination, and never letting go of one's dream. Very few people, I think, could or would have tolerated what Gardner did in order to make a better life for himself and his son. The two were homeless on and off, and those scenes are devastating. The apprentice program takes 20 people, and only one is chosen, yet Chris goes for it, bringing everything he owns to work when he had no place to live. How he holds it together and talks to clients and makes contacts is incredible. Frankly, if this weren't a true story, I would still have liked it but wondered how possible any of it even was.
Will Smith has proved himself an excellent actor in the past - the way he completely submerged his personality into Mohammed Ali is a good example. Here, he's a charming, bright person who is always a day late and a dollar short. Through Smith's performance, one can feel Gardner's pain, frustration, and joy.
The film's message is clear - the brick walls aren't there to keep you out, they're there to keep out the people who don't really want to get to the other side. And family is everything. In his pursuit of happiness, Chris Gardner goes after his dream on his own terms, integrity and humor intact, relentlessly, all the while knowing that the most important thing is the little boy at his side.