The Pursuit of Happyness

While his status has fallen off in recent times, Will Smith was comfortably seen as the king of the 90s from an entertainment perspective, topping musical charts for his hip hop/rap singles and making waves as a strong bankable actor thanks to his massive success on the beloved 90s sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. While mainly known for his light-hearted comedic features like Bad Boys and Men in Black which showcased his vibrant personality and sparky energy, Smith proved he could handle dramatic work just as effectively while still retaining his commercial viability, and one such example was the 2006 biographical drama, The Pursuit of Happyness.

In the bustling streets of San Francisco, a struggling salesman named Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) is unable to sell the portable bone-density scanners he invested his life savings into, causing so much strife in his home life that his wife, Linda (played by Thandiwe Newton) ends up leaving him. Although she initially wants custody of their son, Christopher Jr. (played by Jaiden Smith), Chris refuses to oblige, leaving the both of them alone to fend for themselves which forces him to look for an alternative form of income. He finds one when he’s convinced to become a stockbroker, hoping to get a job at Dean Witter Reynolds firm after meeting and impressing one of its lead managers, Jay (played by Brian Howe). Although he is accepted into a six-month internship with the firm, it doesn’t offer any pay and might not even lead to a job if he doesn’t ace the final exam, forcing Chris to juggle selling his undesirable scanners and taking care of his five-year-old son whilst dedicating his time to a business that doesn’t seem to take him seriously. Taking hit after hit which eventually leads to the both of them becoming homeless, Chris’ prospects for a happy life looks incredibly bleak and hopeless, but his insistence on not giving up could be what leads to a brighter future for both him and his son.

Based on the 2006 memoir of the same name based on the real Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness was another consecutive $100 million-earning blockbuster for Smith and even got him his second-Best Actor Oscar nomination, giving the superstar another project that let him keep his crown. While the film is sadly too melodramatic to be taken as seriously as the real story could’ve been portrayed and the first person-perspective of the original text means some supporting characters and scenarios feel shallow, competent direction, inoffensive music and visuals, and an emotional leading performance from Smith keeps it as an admirable movie.

The real-life Chris Gardner had a life that feels tailor made for a movie, even the portions not mentioned in the film like his childhood, his time spent in the U.S. Navy, his tumultuous romantic relationships, and his actual career as an efficient stockbroker and the philanthropy that came from it. With the clear vision of a man who had imperfections but came out on top through grit and determination, and having just written a memoir alongside Quincy Troupe, even Gardner himself saw the potential his story could inspire on the big screen, which led to him becoming an associate producer for the 2006 Columbia Pictures film set to tell it. While heavily truncating the true events by turning several years into a singular occurrence and changing certain aspects for cinematic or actor-based purposes (Gardner’s son at the time was only a toddler instead of five), it contains all the right components to result in a very sentimental, bitter, but otherwise uplifting film, seemingly rephrasing the purpose behind Gardner’s endeavours quite nicely. There is an unignorable issue that comes with this film’s delivery however, as the content of this true story could result in a dramatic heart-felt tearjerker, but the presentation, atmosphere, and overall attitude of the film is pretty chummy and only feels sombre by the standards of a typical Hollywood flick from the early 2000s, but this isn’t inherently wrong or even that surprising.

Considering the film was distributed by a studio known for releasing money-making crowd-pleasers (especially during the 2000s where they broke several box office records and even reached an all-time record high sum of $1. 711 billion in total revenue) and starred the latest hit actor who was known for filling seats with his charm, the movie was going to be as approachable as possible to not alienate crowds. Even with the clear deflation in tone, the movie still knows when to play things serious, as it will cut the chirpier music and cheesy narration and allow the actors to keep you grounded, with this balance seemingly coming from the director. Being his first American film, Italian director Gabriele Muccino doesn’t save this movie from some cheesy components, and the scripting by Steven Conrad makes it hard to fully get invested as it can get a little repetitive and has overly simplistic dialogue, but for how this film could’ve turned out all things considered, it’s more composed than it should be. It doesn’t feel too long despite being nearly two hours, most of the characters are shallow but are played with enough grit to feel believable, and even if most of the emotional stuff can feel slightly manipulative and not properly dissected, it never feels in poor spirits and has an unrefined pureness to it that may result in some tears by the end.

Since this film is based on a memoir, it’s going to be an account of the situation solely from the eyes of the writer, and while that can provide a lot of insight into how they were feeling during a moment that would usually be for only them to hear, it also means that events can be skewed in the favor of the author even if a more nuanced approach makes more sense. This feeling comes across in how The Pursuit of Happyness handles its supporting cast, none of whom come across as very interesting or even that complex, which is bad for a semi-biographical account but especially for one that is tackling a very personal story that has a lot of humanity at its core. Because of this tunnel-vision, it creates a situation where every portrayal comes across like how the lead viewed these people rather than how they actually were, and that becomes an issue when they feel very one-note antagonistic or holistic. The two worst instances of this are Thandiwe Newton as Gardner’s wife, and Jaiden Smith as Christopher Jr, as both should have their own complex thoughts and feelings surrounding this situation, yet aren’t really allowed to have any. While this makes sense with Christopher Jr. (it’s a bit hard to determine what a toddler was thinking during this experience), Linda feels very tropey and isn’t given much grace about her decisions despite having room to explore them. She doesn’t feature much in the film and Thandiwe Newton does good in the part, but it’s a portrayal that reeks of personal bias.

With this being the first film Jaiden Smith would feature in, it’s clear that Will Smith’s involvement and additional producing credit got his son the part rather than any audition, and while that’s overt nepotism, the scenes the two share together are very charming and feel genuine because of that parental bond. Jaiden Smith was strangely a stronger performer as a child than as an adult, and despite feeling like an overly cutesy trope with predictable lines to boot, his delivery is honestly better than it should’ve been, so while obvious, his involvement doesn’t reek of too much desperation. No one else in the cast really stands out despite people like Brian Howe, Takayo Fischer, and Dan Castellaneta all trying, but this is clearly Will Smith’s movie so it’s only fitting he’s the best part of it. While this wasn’t the first time he’d dabbled with a more dramatic portrayal (even Fresh Prince had some legitimately heart-tugging sequences), this and the 2001 Muhammad Ali biopic, Ali both had him playing a character that wasn’t just his usual persona, and both times bore ample fruit. His very emotive performance carries a lot of the movie’s goodwill and engagement, even though he’s written in a pretty blanket fashion and does things that should be responded with criticism that never comes (again, a consequence of being based on a personal memoir). Despite this, it’s a great showcase of what Will Smith was capable of at the peak of his career.

With a budget of $55 million to work with (and most of that probably going to Will Smith’s pay check), the movie honesty doesn’t require that amount of money to portray its narrative, but it does still put in the effort to make it look as nice as possible. There aren’t any eye-catching visuals on display and on occasion, some forceful cinematic integrations can be a little too cheesy even for this delivery, like a pretty useless narration that feels like it’s talking down to its audience and an occasional freeze-frame that feels entirely pointless, but for the most part, the cinematography by Phedon Papamichael works at its best when it makes the audience feel like it’s in the moment with the lead. Whether it’s watching him and his son cheerily chat about silly stuff on the way to work or watching them nestle together in a subway station bathroom to sleep for the night, the shots that spectate the events help the audience get more involved with the lead’s struggles and therefore feel better once he achieves something. The musical score by Andrea Guerra is always on the cusp of being too in-your-face sappy with the familiar child-like instrumentation and whimsical delivery, but the slight melancholic tone brings it back to reality just enough to not make it obnoxious.

Even with all the controversies that have greatly weakened his widespread appeal, Will Smith will forever be remembered for his cinematic contributions in this period, and while The Pursuit of Happyness isn’t one of the best things to come out of his foray in the 2000s, it’s one that built upon his persona and showed he was more than just a very funny man. As a whole, this movie can feel a bit underwhelming as it’s a pretty sappy take on what could’ve been a very gripping true story, and due to the clear personal angle of the source material, it weakens the plausible reality of the premise in exchange for something more narrow-focused and not looking to explore the avenues it ventures down (even though the lead is homeless for a portion of the story, it doesn’t really take the time to understand or sympathize with anyone else cursed with it), but this doesn’t make the film in any way bad. It’s directed well enough to not be a total cheese-fest, the presentation has enough niceties to make normal environments look pleasant, and Will Smith’s emotionally rich performance will carry most audiences through regardless of gripes, so it’s safe to assume most will leave this movie feeling pretty happy.