Tugs at the moral heart strings as if it has immediate access

Rating: 9/10 (18 March 2012)

Once in a while, a film will subtly waltz by and sweep you off your feet leaving you with a keen sense of assurance and hope. The Pursuit of Happiness manages to do all that without seeming indulgent or heavy-handed. The film is based off of Christopher Gardner's memoir of the same name, about a stressed father who overcomes the largest of obstacles in order to provide him and his son with the life they have always wanted.
Will Smith plays Gardner, a confident, everyman who has invested his family's savings into bone-density scanners that give a picture slightly deeper than an x-ray and cost twice as much. They are defined as "unnecessary luxuries," and many hospitals have turned down Gardner's offer, much to his dismay. Gardner's long-suffering wife, who finally walks out on him, is played by Thandie Newton. Newton's character is aggravated at his overpowering idea that "things will get better," and wishes he'd live in the moment and admit the chips are down. Their son, Christopher Gardner Jr., is played by Smith's son Jaden Smith, in his first film role. Smith shows signs of possessing a charismatic enigma, that few newcomer childhood actors can replicate. He is funny, sweet, and sometimes eerily passionate about his character at such a young age.
The film follows Gardner's new job as an intern stockbroker, a job that is tiresome, involving, and utterly restless. The job can only be overcomplicated when you're looking for a place to eat and sleep every night, taking care of your plucky and adventurous kid, and fighting back at a society that has become arrogant, derogatory, and shamelessly cynical. This is perhaps Smith's most involved performance to date. It seems the only way Smith could play the character so well is if he had some sort of experience like Gardner's. It doesn't seem like you could just jump into the role of the man so effortlessly, but in order to efficiently pull it off, you would've had to go through some emotion-testing event in your life similar to his. I don't know why, but it just seems that way.
Besides the performances being simply mesmerizing by everyone involved, the film has a good sense of honesty and realism to add substance to the story as well. Far too often are we faced with films that evoke happiness, or happiness in this case, as the thing that gets handed to us in a bright package. The Pursuit of Happiness works so well because it shows the true side of life. That we as humans might go through a number of failures before we achieve what we want, and even when we get what we want, might even still not avoid some failures. After Gardner gets the job as a stockbroker, he still goes through a lot of tribulations and aggravating circumstances in order to keep his new job. Sleeping in a homeless shelter with dozens of other strangers, having little to no money in his wallet, and knowing he can't provide for his son like other fathers are just some of the things that would drive an ambitious father up the wall. Perhaps his choices can be criticized, like letting his son sleep in a germ-infested bathroom, but his persistency must be commended.
There is one scene in particular that is very moving and it is the scene where Gardner and Jr. experience "time travel" in the subway station. The scene is so involving, simple, and effective. It's a scene that could've bled corniness and ridiculousness, but almost tugs at the heart strings. And that's what The Pursuit of Happiness does; tug at those moral heart strings not insultingly, but as if it has immediate access to them. And I think it's safe to say that many films know there's an easy entrance to those strings, but few choose to take that exact route.
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, and Dan Castellaneta. Directed by: Gabriele Muccino.