Must-watch for Will Smith fans

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2011)

"That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it." This is what Will Smith said and exactly what should be realized after watching the film, that is, after using up 2 of the 3 tissues that you should bring along with you. With "Pursuit of Happiness", Smith takes on a truly challenging role and shines once again, captivating the audience; he is, hands down, the best thing about the movie. Starring alongside his adorable 8-year-old son, Jaden, he turns in a raw, heartbreaking and scintillating performance as a man who struggles to give his child the quality life that escaped him—surmounting a lack of education and homelessness to become a 'rags-to-riches' phenomenon. In the story, Gardner (Smith) is a salesman with an ample supply of bone density scanners collected during an ill-conceived investment plan that has yet to pay off. His girlfriend, Linda (Thandie Newton), is fed up with having to work double shifts while he strolls around town holding these strange devices, only to return by nightfall with a skinny wallet. They have a son together (Jaden) who spends a lot of time in day care watching TV reruns. Point blank, they are going nowhere, fast. When money woes are pushed to the breaking point, Linda decides it's time to go.The decision actually does nothing except that it victimizes Chris. It's hard to believe that while wearing just enough clothes and sporting a paint-smeared face, Chris would land an internship at a prestigious brokerage firm on sheer wit alone. While the film is based on a true story—or, rather, "inspired by a true story," which means barely resembling what actually occurred—you shouldn't have to leave your brains out somewhere to enjoy it. Will Smith is the only honest thing about the film along with his son. It's worth his performance, most evident in a scene where he and his son are sleeping in a public bathroom and tears fall out of his eyes without any strain. His way of engrossing the viewers is more than emotional; it's like getting sucked into a vortex, directly landing into his life. The physical and emotional chemistry with his son is extraordinary and perhaps the best father-son relationship that a father or son can dream of. As for the movie title's oddly-spelled "happyness," the word is painted that way on the outside of a day care center and it inspires Chris to contemplate whether happiness truly exists. For him, it does; for millions of other homeless people, it never will. That is a reality too depressing to be expressed in a movie—and it just may be the one thing that even Will Smith can't do.