A really nice surprise...

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2007)

It seems like it was only yesterday when hip hop artist Will Smith decided to try his luck with acting on a sitcom named "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", becoming a star thanks to his natural charm and talent for comedy. Soon after that, Smith proved to be a bankable movie star, thanks to a series of very successful action films, but it was only after his roles in "The Legend of Bagger Vance" and in "Ali", when Smith started to be considered a serious actor. More than 15 years after "The Fresh Prince", Will Smith has finally proved that choosing acting over his singing career was a serious decision for him, and as he was not another singer playing himself. "The Pursuit of Happiness", a movie also produced by himself, is another step in that progression towards more serious roles that he has taken recently; and like in Ali, this movie inspired by a real story puts Smith's talent to test, and to the surprise of many, he succeeds.
"The Pursuit of Happiness" is very loosely inspired in the autobiographic book by Chris Gardner. In the movie, Gardner (played by Smith) is an independent salesman constantly struggling to sell a sophisticated, but little needed medical equipment. After investing all his savings in this business, he finds himself troubled for the lack of sales, and constantly struggling to pay the bills. The situation becomes unbearable for her wife Linda (Thandie Newton), so she decides to leave him alone with his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) and move to New York. Without a stable job and with a son to take care for, Gardner decides to try for a stockbroker internship, hoping to be able to be selected to get a full time job. However, he won't see any money while the internship takes place, so he'll have to face homelessness. together with his little son he'll have to find the courage to keep pursuing "Happiness".
While the movie is based on the Gardner's experiences written in his book, the script (by Steve Conrad) takes many liberties with the story. People expecting a true adaptation of the book will probably be disappointed by this, but Conrad's changes are really interesting; and while probably a bit too emotionally manipulative, they keep the spirit of Gardner's life story and most importantly: his inspiring message. Probably the biggest difference between the movie and the book is the change of Gardner's son Christopher from a baby to a 5 years old kid, and to make him his companion through the difficult lonely months of the internship. This was a very good addition in my opinion, as since in real life it was his son who inspired Chris to succeed, it made sense that in the movie their relationship was established in a more "cinematic" way than in the book.
Story says that director Gabriele Muccino was picked by producer Will Smith to direct this movie after watching his work in "Ricordati Di me" (2003) and "L' Ultimo Bacio" and it's not hard to discover why. As proved by his previous movies, Muccino has shown a taste for portraying stories of troubled men in his 30s struggling to overcome their own personal difficulties, as well as a talent for this kind of character driven dramas. Visually the movie really captures the atmosphere of the 80s (the movie is set in 1981), and has a somewhat gritty look that makes it feel very real, as if it was a documentary about this man's problems. However, Muccino's best trait is the way he directs his cast, as not only directs Will Smith's best performance so far, he also gets a remarkable (and very underrated) performance by Thandie Newton.
Will Smith has walked a long path to become who he is now, and is in this movie when he really shows what he is worth. His performance as Chris Gardner is breathtaking, frighteningly realist, and one of the best male performances of the year. Surprisingly, it never feels like he is playing himself (as it often happens in his action movies), as really becomes this intelligent yet troubled man decided to follow his dream. Smith's enormous improvement is so notorious that it overshadows Thandie Newton's own amazing performance, but Newton's turn as Gardner's wife is also a performance worth to talk about. In a bold move, Newton takes away her image as a sexy woman and appears as an unsatisfied working woman completely tired of Gardner's failures and tired of her own life. Finally, the supporting cast is really excellent, specially the young Jaden Smith (Will's real son), who gives a very natural and charming performance as Gardner's 5 years old son Christopher.
If the movie has any real problem is that it may appear to be too manipulative at times, specially to those aware of Gardner's real story as the changes seem to point out in that direction. However, I found those changes to be nice additions that actually made the movie to flow a bit more easily, and actually made the story not only inspiring, but also charming and funny at times. It's true that at first sight this movie looks like the typical "underdog story", but what makes "The Pursuit of Happiness" to stand out is the harsh realism the film has, specially in the scenes related to homelessness. It never romanticizes that sad situation and one can actually feel the real desolation of not having a place where to spend the night.
This movie is not a masterpiece of film-making, but it's definitely the film where Will Smith delivers his best performance so far. Many have said that the film advocates the idea of money as the source of happiness, but I disagree; what this movie advocates is the idea of a proper home as a source of happiness. The sad fact that money is needed for that is actually the point of this movie. 8/10