Good inspirational story

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2007)

By far, the meatiest acting that Will Smith has tackled. He takes down the "Big Willie" style and is just a plain old average Joe. He is like many people, intelligent yet underachieving. It isn't until he is put out on the street that he stops with the get rich quick schemes and tries to find a "real" job.
Smith's son Jaden is very natural in the film. That can be directly attributed to Will playing his father. Will be interesting to see if Jaden is that good playing opposite someone else. Still, he gives one of the purist performances of a first-timer in quite a while.
Specifics of how broke the character really was has been debated, but I don't think that takes away from the film. There is a sense that the film could have gone a lot darker than it did. It always seems to build up to opening that door, but never quit steps through. I think all in all that serves the movie well, though some may have liked to seen more struggle.
Great stuff, Will can do anything he wants. Now he just needs to try and tackle the western genre again, this time with a suitable story.