The Pursuit of Happyness
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Writer: Steve Conrad
Producers: James Lassiter, Will Smith, Steve Tisch, Teddy Zee, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 117 min
read my spoiler disclaimer

by Andrew James
     Yes, the filmmakers know that "Happyness" is spelled incorrectly in the title. That is supposed to be part of the magic of the story. Well, I found less magic and more mundaneness in this story of breaking free of life's hardships with guts, grit and determination. It's too bad that I already knew what was going to happen in this movie that could've been told in about 20 minutes.

      Smith plays Chris Gardner, a man so down on his luck that he is literally on the street left to take care of his 8 year old son. Stuck with hundreds of some sort of medical equipment that no doctor or clinic seems to want to buy, he seems to have nowhere to turn. With no money and no prospects, Chris decides to go for what seems to be an unobtainable job: a stock broker for Dean Witter. Lucky for Chris, he knows how to solve a Rubick's Cube.

      The highlights of this film are any scene in which Smith is interacting with his on-screen and real life son, Jaden Smith. These scenes are cute, heartfelt and real. With his father's opull in Hollywood, I'm sure young Jaden will have a long and fruitful life in the acting biz if he wants it. And I think if he has 5% of his father's wit, charm and pinache, this could be a good thing.

      Pretty much everything else in this movie is pointless. We get to see a litle bit of Thandie Newton, which is always a plus, but soon she becomes a raving bitch and leaves Chris and unfortunately the screen. Since we know Chris' true life story, watching 90 minutes of a man's suffering and heartaches becomes unbearable and completely unnecessary.

      If the producers decided to give the film a title that truly captures what this movie is about (with correct spelling), they would've titled it, "Will Smith Chases Stuff." My guess is that a combined time of 40 minutes of this film is spent watching Smith chase a bus, a subway, a hippie, a bum, a doctor, a taxi, run AWAY from a cab driver, running to a meeting, running FROM cops, chasing a taxi again, then once again chasing a hippie. I think he might chase the bum a second time as well, but I was for too engrossed with watching my fingers twittling.

      Now, there are a few scenes that are legitmately interesting to watch. Most of them are, as stated above, with Chris and son interacting as father and son. But one or two scenes in which Chris must schmooze his way into and past business situations are fun. Will Smith has always been about his charm, and when he's not sleeping on the street or chasing something, he's got more of his charismatic charm here. Unfortunately, these scenes are very few and far between. Most of the film is tripe and contrived from frame one.

      Sitting through this movie was not quite as bad as having my fingernails scraped across a chalk board, but it came close. I believe that I suffered more in my 2 hours in the theater than Chris Gardner did in his two months of job hunting and public, mass-transit chasing. Feel free to skip this one now and later on video rental day. Even huge fans of Will Smith can see that all his good lines are in the trailer. See that and you've seen the movie (without the running). Not the "feel-good movie of the year;" more like the feel-frenzied and watch a man's dread nearly consume him movie of the year.

andrew@moviepatron.com