It's a film you really want to like...

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2007)

Expect to cry when you see this film for the first time. Some of the scenes are very emotional, and very sad as well. And yet this isn't a movie you leave feeling terrible- it's a movie of hope. It's a movie you really want to love.
Will Smith gives a stunning performance as Chris Gardner, a man living on the streets with his son as he tries to get hired as a stockbroker. Smith's performance is beautiful and he truly gives the performance of a lifetime. His pain looks and feels completely real. He deserves the Best Actor Oscar. He's that good.
His performance is only made twenty times better by the touching and truly amazing story. For a long time, it seems that nothing can go right for this man. It seems that the world is really against him. He loses everything- yet he still has hope. He holds on to that distant hope that drives and connects with us all. That distant hope that he feels translates to the audience in a way that we can hardly understand. We only know it's a feeling that we don't want to ever lose. We all can feel lost and out of luck at times, but this inspiring film tells us we have to keep moving and keep trying. There is hope in the distance, and though the struggle may be fierce, when we reach that hope it's worth it all.
So, yes, this is a movie you really want to like, and it is very easy to do so. It offers hope to a sometimes hopeless world. And, in the end, it is impossible not to love it. 7/10 stars and it deserves every one!
Jay Addison