The father-son relationship is believable, but nothing else

Rating: 6/10 (23 March 2007)

You almost always know you're in trouble at the movies when the opening titles say "Inspired By a True Story" instead of "Based on a True Story". This usually means that once a committee of hack screenwriters revises the story one-too-many times into slick Hollywood pabulum, there are only a few traces of a credible true story left. "The Pursuit of Happiness" is "inspired by" the true story of Chris Gardner and how he went from being a failed salesman to a homeless person to a millionaire stock broker. And it is no exception to the above rule of "inspired by" vs. "based on".
Gardner is played by Will Smith as a charming, driven, but down-on-his-luck salesman of bone density scanners. Everyday, he goes out trying to sell his overpriced, unreliable products to doctors who don't want them. And every night he comes home to his nagging, shrewish wife (Thandie Newton--once a great beauty--whose face seems now to be fixed in a permanent grimace). Eventually, on the way to another doctor's office, he passes by the San Francisco stock exchange and notices that everyone who works there seems happy and rich. Inspired by their example, he applies for an internship at Dean Witter. When he tells his wife what he has done, she throws a fit and leaves the next day.
It is at this point that the script starts to diverge from any reality that I can recognize. Gardner has a son Christopher (Smith's real-life son Jaden), who is the emotional core of Gardner's life and of this movie. When the Gardners first split, there appears to be a looming fierce custody battle, with both parents acting more selfishly than in young Christopher's interest (something I recognize from my own childhood), but in the next scene they come to an amicable agreement to let his father have sole custody. I suppose this would be fine except the tone of the battle keeps swinging back and forth from mean to friendly with seemingly nothing to trigger either mood shift, which tells me that screenwriter Steve Conrad (along with probably half a dozen other uncredited writers) didn't have the guts to portray divorce and custody fights for what they really are.
Back to the plot summary: By sheer gumption and by sprinting wherever he goes instead of walking, Gardner manages to land the internship. In real-world job-hunting, stalking a would-be employer and showing up for an interview in ratty clothes would probably be grounds for being barred from Dean Witter's offices permanently. But in this Hollywood confection, the head of HR (Brian Howe) and the CEO (James Karen) are wowed by these things because they show just how motivated Gardner is. I imagine their actual counterparts were a great deal more skeptical of Gardner than what is portrayed in the movie. And despite being deeply impressed during that first interview, for the rest of the film they follow the lead of his trainer (Dan Castellenata wearing a toupee and acting like Homer Simpson's worst nightmare) by blocking his potential contacts and treating him like a servant.
The internship is unpaid, and eventually Gardner winds up homeless. This is the only part of the movie that had any real emotional resonance for me. I could care less about his marriage or his work life, but Gardner's struggle to be a good father to his son while unable to provide anything for him is what lifts this film above true awfulness to mere mediocrity.
The chemistry that the Smiths have with each other is undeniable. And Will Smith--like Tom Hanks--is a good enough actor that he will likely get an Oscar nomination every time he plays a role that is more serious than his usual fare. But "The Pursuit of Happiness" has little more than this going for it. In adapting Gardner's life to film, it seems to me that his story has been sterilized, simplified and watered down for the lowest common denominator. I would like to see Hollywood make more gritty dramas that are "based on" true events rather than saccharine schlock like this that is merely "inspired by" them. 6 out of 10.