Surprise Happy Ending!

Rating: 3/10 (26 August 2007)

I don't think it would qualify as a spoiler to state that this film has a happy ending. Somewhere around three-quarters into the film I was thinking that it had better have a happy ending, otherwise I would've put my foot through my TV screen.
But to get to that happy ending this film puts you (and its hero Chris) through such a litany of misfortune and disappointments that it made me wonder how on earth a happy resolution could possibly get the bad taste out of my mouth. I wondered how on earth Chris (played earnestly by Will Smith) could possibly think that a job at Dean Witter was worth what he goes through to get it. At what point along his road to ruin did he decide that a job at Wal Mart wasn't acceptable? When he put his head down on that sticky pillow at the shelter, what on earth prevented him from wondering if Dunkin Donuts was hiring? But no, his son had to endure losing his mom, living without an address, sleeping in a public restroom, etc., just so Daddy could land his pinchey job at Dean Witter.
"Based on a true story" the film says. Sorry, but I didn't buy it. Even a true story can seem totally fake if it isn't effectively told. This film plays every false note and prods the viewer incessantly. So the happy ending rings utterly untrue.