The Pursuit of Happyness

Plot synopsis:
In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner (Will Smith) invests his entire life savings in portable bone density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy quantum leap over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris's life. While he is able to sell most of them, the time lag between the sales and his growing financial demands enrage his already bitter and alienated wife Linda (Thandie Newton), who works as a hotel maid. The financial instability increasingly erodes their marriage, in spite of them caring for their five-year-old son, Christopher Jr. (Jaden Smith).
While Chris trying to sell one of the scanners, Gardner meets Jay Twistle (Brian Howe), a manager for Dean Witter Reynolds and impresses him by solving a Rubik's Cube during a taxi ride. After Jay leaves, Gardner lacks money to pay the fare, and chooses to run, resulting in the driver chasing him into a BART station. Gardner boards a train but loses one of his scanners in the process. His new relationship with Jay earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The day before the interview, Gardner grudgingly agrees to paint his apartment so as to postpone being evicted due to his difficulty in paying the rent. While painting, Gardner is greeted by two policemen at his doorstep, who take him to the station, stating he has to pay for his numerous parking tickets he has accumulated. As part of the sanction, Gardner is ordered to spend the night in jail, complicating his schedule for the interview the next morning. He manages to arrive at Dean Witter's office on time, albeit still in his shabby clothes. Despite his appearance, he impresses the interviewers, and lands an unpaid internship. He would be amongst 20 interns competing for a paid position as a broker.
Gardner's unpaid internship does not please Linda, who eventually leaves for New York because she might get a job at her sister's boyfriend's new restaurant. After Gardner bluntly says she is incapable of being a single mom, she agrees that Christopher Jr. will remain with his dad. Gardner is further set back when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for unpaid income taxes, and he and Christopher are evicted. He ends up with less than $22, resulting in them being homeless, and are forced at one point to stay in a restroom at a BART station. Other days, he and Christopher spend nights at a homeless shelter, in BART, or, if he manages to procure cash, at a hotel. Later, Gardner finds the bone scanner that he lost in the BART station and, after repairing it, sells it to a physician, thus completing all his sales of his scanners.
Disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Gardner develops a number of ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high value customers, defying protocol. One sympathetic prospect who is a top-level pension fund manager even takes him and his son to a San Francisco 49ers game. Regardless of his challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumstances to his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses five dollars for cab fare, a sum that he cannot afford. Concluding his internship, Gardner is called into a meeting with his managers. One of them notes he is wearing a new shirt. Gardner explains it is his last day and thought to dress for the occasion. The manager smiles and says he should wear another one tomorrow, letting him know he has won the coveted full-time position giving him his 5 dollars as he promised. Fighting back tears, Gardner shakes hands with them, then rushes to his son's daycare to embrace Christopher. They walk down the street, joking with each other and are passed by the real Chris Gardner (in a business suit appearance). The epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm.

Tags: inspiring, depressing, feel-good

Review:
I will say that Will Smith was shockingly good now that he's paid his dues with "Men in Black" and "Bad Boys."I was very happy that this film never got political and blamed Reagan for the number of "down on their luck" people that were shown, nor was the race card ever pulled out.
While the movie has an uplifting "go for your dreams" message, the deepest theme is that of family.Will Smith did a great job as the father trying to protect his son from their circumstances of becoming homeless as much as he can, while at the same time trying to work in the competitive world of stocks as an un-paid intern.
Jaden Smith was outstanding as the preschool-aged kid who knows things are going wrong and tries to have a stiff upper lip, but just can't do it all the time.The story is very touching and was close to home for me.
His son also did a fantastic job.There is a great lesson that is learned in this movie and it truly shares the struggles of everyday life.This movie was heart felt and touching.
Bruce Willis never had to make this many life threatening decisions in Die Hard.Will Smith gives a better performance of toughness here than he did portraying Muhammed Ali. This movie is raw.
And because we know that -- because we've seen more than one movie in our lives -- "The Pursuit of Happiness" has a particular challenge: To take the real-life rags-to-riches story of stockbroker Chris Gardner, a story with a preordained happy ending, and imbue it with tension and suspense.The great surprise of the picture is that it's not corny.
In the taxicab scene, in which he tries to impress a prospective employer by solving the Rubik's Cube, and in every other scene in which Chris has to sit or stand there smiling while another man pronounces on his fate, Smith is right there with the right emotions: absolute hope and total terror.This film is an amazing heartfelt performance certain to influence and motivate its audience to reach new heights.
This film is based on a true story by the life of Chris Garner who struggles with his life and is now a multi-millionaire.Although this film is depressing in many points, Will Smith's son, Jaden Smith, lifts up the screen.
There are undoubtedly two camps of people who watched this film: those who start to tear up at the very hint of a Very Special Movie, and those who rely a little on logic and, I dunno, sense; those who, that is, want the movie to work a little to earn tears, not the other way around.Guess which group I'm in.Chis Gardner (Will Smith) is a salesman of sorts - he sells scanners to medical professionals that are supposed to be more detailed than x-ray machines, and much more expensive.
Now, me, in this situation, might, perhaps, get another job, one that paid something, anything to keep food on the table for my wife (Thandie Newton) and son (Jaden Smith).But Chris isn't like me.
By the end of its two-hour running time, even the most naive and maudlin members of the audience will have long lost any signs of compassion and empathy.The film follows Christopher Gardner (based on the real-life millionaire entrepreneur) as he struggles with homelessness, fatherhood, and poverty, while trying to get his foot in the door of a brokerage firm.
Only you would have been hard pressed to come up with a story quite so bland and unimaginative.What is worse is that this is a film that effectively praises the central character for dragging his child onto the street to satisfy his own pursuit, not of "happyness", but of money in his pure greed to get a job with a big money finance company.Will Smith simply plays himself, to the point of falling back on his Prince of Bel Air vocabulary on more than one occasion and Thandie Newton does her best to portray a character with no depth.The occasional 80's reference scores nostalgia points and Jaden Smith delivers what little is asked of him but overall this is 145 mins of my life that would have been better spent doing the ironing, and probably more enjoyably spent at that..
His comic timing is still evident in the lighter moments, but it is his sincerity in playing a man with no options, no family, no help and little hope that shows him shining.Special praise should also be reserved for Will's own son Jaden, who plays Christopher Gardner Jnr. Some people hate child actors, but its perhaps that they are not good child actors...
perhaps it was perfect casting to put a real father and son together here, as they are an outstanding double act playing themselves in different, more downtrodden circumstances.I rarely give movies a full 10, but this throughly deserved it, and should be an example to us all on how movies should be made, and even how we look at our own lives and wonder if we are living up to our own potential in our own "pursuit of happiness" Outstanding..
Great performance by Will Smith for sure.But the movie is just so predictable, long; and shows to you multiple times what you can grasp at once: he is struggling!
This film is inspired by a true story about a man going from economic nothingness to being rather wealthy and simultaneously trying to raise his little son.
But Director Gabriele Muccino, whose track record is hitherto with foreign language films, squanders it.I didn't really like Chris Gardner.His pursuit of the stockbroker "Dream" is at the expense during the film, of a squalid life for his young son.
As many have said you can't help but to be inspired by this true story of devotion.Sitting in the theater with my wife, I (not only) like Will Smith teared -up I was simply worn out, 30 minutes into the movie!
Maybe it permits to live, but there are definitely more important things, at least for me.Also, the movie is just too typical, and even though I admire Mr. Smith's character's struggle to just get his son a life he wants him to give, it smells of that too well known, rancidly recycled American dream.
Without money and wife, but totally committed with his son Christopher (Jaden Smith), Chris sees the chance to fight for a stockbroker internship position at Dean Witter, disputing for one career in the end of six months training period without any salary with other twenty candidates.
Meanwhile, homeless, he has all sorts of difficulties with his son."The Pursuit of Happiness" is a touching story of perseverance, commitment and objective in life, and one of the most beautiful and enlightened biographies I have ever see in a movie.
So I end this review by quoting Chris Gardner ; "Don't let ANYONE, tell you that you can't do something", because that is the feeling I have now, I will never give up something easily again, and I'm thankful for the life I live today.I recommend this movie with all of my heart!
I have just watched "Pursuit of Happiness" and could not prevent tears running down my cheeks.This movie reminds me of my struggles.I am a student from Kenya who came to Middle Tennessee State University on a track scholarship.Unfortunately I did not perform to the expectation of the coach and he cut my scholarship in my freshman year leaving me with no direction or anyone to turn to.Like Will Smith in this movie,I realized how painful it is not to have anyone to turn to for help.I am alone here,ten of thousands of miles from my family.I was kicked out of the dorm,no money in my pocket,no where to go......(I learned the world is so cruel and unfair sometimes).With prayers and running up and down trying to make ends meet,God did a miracle and a good samaritan/friend helped me financially stay in school the following semester.I looked for jobs but only managed an internship because of my residency status which prohibited me from working off-campus.This internship is what makes me be in school today as I look forward to my senior year.I have to work so hard to pay for school and other bills as well as working hard in school.
This movie is the most inspiring and touching movie I have ever seen.Just like Gardner's achievement,the movie tells me that nothing is impossible no matter what some people think.One lesson I learned in this movie is "Failure isn't about falling down, it's about staying down" "The Pursuit of Happiness" is a brilliant masterpiece of Will Smith work.Two thumps way up..
Wills Smiths kid is really funny he's a great actor just like his father, it was a brilliant idea to make a movie with two family members in it.
Thank you for giving me more than 2 hours with a wonderful movie in a life that sometimes is as hard and unfair people can't imagine, but always worth living if we do believe in our strength and faith and luck to meet the right people at the right time at the right place.Will shows us, despite all his problems which seem to occur always at the wrong time, that standing tough how hard things might be in life is the only way to survive..
Everybody knows that Will Smith is a great actor.It is rather unfortunate that his greatness as an actor has not been revealed in escapist films like Men in Black and Wild Wild West.Pursuit of Happiness is a film which has showcased his real acting talents.As the film is about an American dream or what it takes to achieve an American dream,it would be nice to discuss something about Italian director Gabriele Muccino.He is not an American yet he has been able to create a beautiful,honest visual document about what it means to be happy in USA.This has happened as foreigners in America have a fairly good idea of what they are supposed to do in order to succeed in a great land of opportunity known as USA.There is no hidden political message in this film as it makes it clear that a hardworking individual can succeed/will succeed no matter how great the obstacles are.This is what happened to Chris Gardner in real life.This is a nice film which does not try to get neither sentimental nor maudlin as watching it we get joy as we laugh and cry at the same time..
He's smart and diligent but unable to catch a break and falling further and further behind in his responsibilities to everything except his young son (Jaden Smith) whom he'd promised to always be around for, no matter the circumstances.The Pursuit of Happiness is heartwarming in parts but as a whole, the film wasn't very engaging or memorable.
I know that they are related in real life so filming these scenes was probably an easy thing to do yet they did have an appealing relationship and watching them together made you root for Chris a little more because you want the best for the kid.
It is not just a family drama, but it also contains a message in it.It is a film about Chris Gardner, who is fighting hard to bring happiness into his home but nothing is going in his favor.A perfect blend of real performance and a great story along with the topping of the great emotions, this is what this film is all about.
An absolutely great movie of a man's life.It's a real story,which is why it adds more credibility and feelings to the whole watching process.GREAT!
Most of the movie ("most" meaning not half but about 9/10 of it) deals with Chris Gardner's (Will Smith) struggles with poverty, the raising of his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) and his tired wife (Thandie Newton).
His wife leaves him, he gets kicked out of a few motels, takes his son to homeless shelters, then ends up staying in a subway bathroom, all this in a background of more oppression and intimidation at the broker firm.I thought the film would make me feel good (not that I'm feeling bad or anything, I'm just saying), but there's too much going bad for Chris and only at the end do we get the emotional, tear jerking moment.
Much like the movie "Castaway", "The Pursuit of Happiness" is really riveting because it depicts the things that ordinary Americans (who live in the richest nation on earth) tend to take for granted, such as living in a nice home (instead of a homeless shelter or a subway station), or having a job.Great performances by Will (and Jaden) Smith, Thandie Newton, and Brian Howe.
Jaden Smith was outstanding as the preschool-aged kid who knows things are going wrong and tries to have a stiff upper lip, but just can't do it all the time.I was very happy that this film never got political and blamed Reagan for the number of "down on their luck" people that were shown, nor was the race card ever pulled out.
"Chris Gardner" is the living manifestation of (whenever there is a will there is a way).Some people saw that the movie is so hard and got "tough scenes"!
Based on a true story about a man named Christopher Gardner set in 1981, Pursuit of Happiness is probably one of Will Smith's best performances, one that stands unique to the rest, and once again he shows us how powerful his acting ability can be, when accompanied with an incredible story.
This movie is so great and my favourite because the storyline is very good and it teaches us how to live life to the fullest even if you are in the worst of your situations.It definitely made me cry after the last scene where Chris Gardner finally gets his job and shows his inner strength and joy of achieving of what he had been trying for so long.
The Pursuit Of Happiness was much better than expected mainly because of the great performance by Will Smith who continues to show his talent as an actor in this film.
Director Gabriele Muccino has done an admirable job of making this movie based on an inspiring true story about a struggling salesman who tries to find a steady job so that he can support him and his son after losing nearly everything but finds a chance to get his life back on track with a stockbroker internship at Dean Witter.
Will Smith is fantastic as Chris Gardner the struggling salesman giving one of his best performances in this film.
The movie has drama, some small doses of humor, characters we come to care about, and terrific performances by the cast especially Will Smith who makes this inspiring true story enjoyable to watch..
I was a little reluctant before watching this movie, I have seen "Seven Pounds" recently, and found it disappointing (although saved by good acting) which, together with my low opinion of Muccino's Italian movies, contributed to my doubts on The pursuit of Happiness, but I had to reconsider my opinion, since I really appreciated it, and was able to stand the huge amount of advertising on Italian TV, which often destroys the pleasure of watching any movie.The plot is evidently but not annoyingly marked by the solid American belief that man's efforts and commitment lead to success, with that maybe too optimistic faith that everything will turn better, and your sacrifices will once get the deserved prize (although life often shows something different), but there's no pretence of too much didascalism, it's a quite realistic portray of the hardships of life, with a happy ending aimed at leaving the audience with some self-confidence and trust in others.The overall impression of anxiety, with all that running after people, appointments, occasions, is softened by some tender moments between father and son (at times melodramatic, but never too melodramatic) and also relieved by funny moments.
And I suppose the point of this film is to show just how miserable that pursuit can be  as all manner of things go wrong for Will Smith, son Jaden, and ever-bitchy wife (Newton).Chris Gardner is a salesman down on his luck.
Too often a film like this seems to be gunning for tears from it's audience at every possible moment, but Muccino shows genuine restraint and instead lets the drama play out very naturally.Many times throughout the movie, it seemed impossible how difficult this poor mans life...
I recommend this movie because its true story, of the great acting of Will Smith, and it can bring us hope for a better life.In the movie The Pursuit of Happiness we can see how a good man tries to make an honest living and keep his family together during hard times.
No matter how hard it is to live, Gardner never gives up, and he tries to make a better life for his family.The movie: The Pursuit of Happiness is produced by Columbia Pictures; the director is Gabriele Muccino, and the lead role is played by Will Smith.
The Pursuit of Happiness, set in 1981, is inspired by the real life story of underdog Chris Gardner, who rose from being homeless to become a stock market tycoon.
I heard about many people crying when they watched this movie because of the impressive plot and Will Smith's perfect acting skill.From The Pursuit of Happiness we can see that we all can be a hero if we keep fighting and never give up for life.
This movie has something in it that, I can't describe in words.An usual man with his Wife & Son struggling for a happy life.This movie is focused on a Man named, Chris Gardner.
while i watching the film, I didn't see will smith, I saw only Chris Gardner.
Will Smith does an amazing job playing the character of a man who has lost it all but is looking to gain a better life for him and his family (son).