Sure to become a Classic for the Millennium

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2006)

I didn't choose to see this movie. I was going to see a sneak preview of "Dreamgirls," (which I had been eagerly looking forward to for weeks) but was turned away because so many other people were there to see it too. As consolation, the theater management let me into a sneak preview of "Pursuit of Happiness." I went in utterly unprepared for the emotional ride I was about to take, not having seen a trailer or any early reviews. Needless to say, this movie totally made me forget my disappointment! Everyone around me was crying shamelessly -- myself included. I left the theater convinced I had just seen this century's equivalent of "It's a Wonderful Life." It's that great!
Excerpts can't convey the full impact of what happened to this man. You really have to see the movie all the way through to get the cumulative effect of one hit of bad luck after another. When you're already down and desperately struggling to hang on it doesn't take much to push you off the ledge. The movie was utterly convincing in its depiction of what it must be like to spiral down into homelessness -- and the number of paths that can take a person there, over and above the usual stereotypes. (I understand they used actual homeless people as extras and it showed. You can't "act" that look).
Some have complained that the movie was too long, or too repetitive, with not much going on in the middle. I would contend that this was a deliberate attempt to convey what it's like to be caught in a Sisyphean routine of hoping to get through day after day of not much hope. I thought the setting was used really well to show this -- San Francisco is a gorgeous city, but Chris (and the camera) barely has time to notice, because he is too busy just trying to get from one place to another.
I've never been a huge Will Smith fan before now but the gamut of emotions he conveyed in this movie without uttering a word was just brilliant. His kid is adorable -- and an astonishingly fine actor. Thandie Newton as his wife was the one weak note -- she came across as more of a shrew than a woman who was once a loving partner but now just exhausted and worn down.