Gardener is determined to build a better life for himself and his son, and a glimmer of hope arrives when

he's accepted for a competitivebut nonpayinginternship at an investment firm. Months behind on the rent and facing eviction, relations between Gardner and his wife reach a breaking point. Linda bolts for New York, leaving father and son without car, money or real prospects. Only their love for each other and faith that they will see better times gets them through. In a particularly insightful scene, Christopher tells his father the familiar joke about the drowning man who repeatedly turns away rescuers in motorboats saying, "God will save me." Of course, he drowns, and when he arrives in heaven asks God, "Why didn't you save me?" The Almighty replies, "I sent three boats for you. What were you waiting for?" Gardner gets the message. Things may seem grim, but their "rescue boat" may have already arrived as the internship. The rest is up to him.

Gardner's final success is an inspiring testament to the human spirit and the determination to overcome, especially for the sake of someone you love. But we're left with troubling questions about those who aren't so fortunate. That misplaced "y" in "happyness" becomes a nagging question: "Why?" Why are there so many homeless in such a rich nation? Why is it so hard for an honest man like Gardner to overcome misfortune? And why is it so hard to heed Jesus' words: "Whatever you have done for the least of these" The Pursuit of Happyness reminds me a lot of It's a Wonderful Life without the guardian angel. But just because there's no angel doesn't mean there's no help from above. Like in the drowning man story, perhaps God wants us to learn to reach out and help each other. Maybe that's what constitutes true happiness.

Production Company: Columbia Pictures Director: Gabriele Muccino Cast: Will Smith, Jaden Pinkett Smith, Thandie Newton Rating: PG-13 for some mild language By Gregg Tubbs (UMC.org)We love to cheer for the underdog. Whether it's the scrawniest guy scoring the winning touchdown or the shy little girl winning the spelling bee, we love to see someone triumph over adversity to become a hero. Some, like firemen or soldiers, are natural heroes we can't help but cheer on. But what about the everyday heroes average folks struggling to pay the rent and care for their children who are all around us? In The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith plays just such a heroa good man trying to make an honest living and keep his family together during hard times. Will he beat the odds and find happiness? The answers are worth pursuing. The Pursuit of Happyness, 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. Smith is an inspired choice to play this come-from-behind hero. His natural charm and energy are perfect for playing the part of a natural born salesman who relies on likeability and hustle to promote his products and himself. But this is also a departure for Smith. Gone is the buff body of Ali and the Men in Black swagger. Instead, he sports an 80's afro, tinged with grey, and the lines on his face and smaller physique reflect a man worn down by disappointment and the day-to-day grind of life. He makes a believable and endearing everyman. Gardner and his wife, Linda (Thandie Newton), have sunk their savings into a truckload of high-tech bone density scanners, which he plans to sell to the San Francisco healthcare community. Unfortunately, the scanners turn out to be an expensive luxury for most hospitals, and they become literal and symbolic millstones, gathering dust and dragging their finances downward. As Gardner lugs his scanners from one unsuccessful sales call to another, Linda works double shifts at a seedy laundry. Their situation becomes increasingly desperate and tempers flair. Their five-year-old son, Christopher (Smith's real-life son, Jaden), is caught in the middle. As he drops Christopher off at his budget daycare, he's angered by all the graffiti outside the building. The scrawled, misspelled word "happyness" haunts him and fills him withestions. What is happiness? Will financial success bring it? Or is Christopher's well-being all he needs to find happiness? Is happiness something we can only chase, but never catch? Gardener is determined to build a better life for himself and his son, and a glimmer of hope arrives when he's accepted for a competitivebut nonpayinginternship at an investment firm. Months behind on the rent and facing eviction, relations between Gardner and his wife reach a breaking point. Linda bolts for New York, leaving father and son without car, money or real prospects. Success at the internship will lead to a lucrative career, but along the way Gardner must labor nights and weekends, stubbornly trying to sell medical scanners, and somehow care for Christopher. Their struggle is heartbreaking at times, as he and his son's living situation deteriorates. They go from living in an apartment, to a motel, to a harrowing night spent sleeping in a subway station restroom, and finally to a homeless shelter. Only their love for each other and faith that they will see better times gets them through.
As Gardner (Will Smith) goes from one unsuccessful sales call to another, Linda (Thandie Newton) must work double shifts at a seedy laundry. Their situation becomes increasingly desperate and tempers flair. Copyright 2006 Columbia Pictures.

In a particularly insightful scene, Christopher tells his father the familiar joke about the drowning man who repeatedly turns away rescuers in motorboats saying, "God will save me." Of course, he drowns, and when he arrives in heaven asks God, "Why didn't you save me?" The Almighty replies, "I sent three boats for you. What were you waiting for?" Gardner gets the message. Things may seem grim, but their "rescue boat" may have already arrived as the internship. The rest is up to him.

Gardner's final success is an inspiring testament to the human spirit and the determination to overcome, especially for the sake of Gardner's (Will Smith) financial situation deteriorates someone you love. But we're left with troubling questions about those until he and his son (Jaden Smith) finally end up in a who aren't so fortunate. That misplaced "y" in "happyness" becomes a homeless shelter. Copyright 2006 Columbia Pictures nagging question: "Why?" Why are there so many homeless in such a rich nation? Why is it so hard for an honest man like Gardner to overcome misfortune? And why is it so hard to heed Jesus' words: "Whatever you have done for the least of these" The Pursuit of Happyness reminds me a lot of It's a Wonderful Life without the guardian angel. But just because there's no angel doesn't mean there's no help from above. Like in the drowning man story, perhaps God wants us to learn to reach out and help each other. Maybe that's what constitutes true happiness.
Gregg Tubbs is a freelance writer living in Columbia, Md. This review was developed by UMC.org, the official online ministry of The United Methodist Church.

STUDY QUESTIONS

Chris Gardner's life story has been featured on TV's "20-20." Have your seen or read about Chris Gardner's story? Certain changes were made in the film, such as the internship being totally nonpaying. Do these variations in facts affect the essential truths of the story? Gardner says that happiness might be something we can't ever "catch," which is why we are always chasing it. Do you agree? How do you define happiness? What role did Gardner's faith play in his and his son's survival? He had faith in himself, but in what scenes do you see evidence that he draws on faith in God as well? What do you think is the symbolism of the bone density scanners? What do they mean to Gardner? Do they represent both hope and hindrance? There are many verses in the Bible that speak to God's concern for the welfare of the poor and oppressed. Find and discuss some of these verses. Here are a few examples: Psalms 10:17-18, Psalms 37:14-15, Proverbs 31:89, Zechariah 7:8-14. Do you believe God wants us to share his concern for the poor? (See Matt. 24:31-46 and Matt. 19:21.) Do you believe Jesus came for people like Chris Gardner? (See Luke 4:18.) Do you think material possessions can lead to happiness? Is that what Gardner was after or was he motivated by something else? Have you ever known anyone who experienced homelessness? Did they receive help? From where? Who is responsible for helping the poor? What issues in today's society do you believe add to poverty and homelessness? Low wages? The costs of housing, medical care, food, or fuel? How are these moral issues for Christians? What is the lesson in the "drowning man" joke Christopher told his father? Discuss a time in your life when you may have failed to recognize the help that was offered because it did not come in the form you expected.

Fatherhood and homelessness

This is a film with the unashamed message that America is a place where individuals arent rewarded via pity, but through initiative, sacrifice and hard work. Chris Gardners success came by taking the gifts God gave him, motivating himself with love for his son, and

persevering in a superhuman effort to outdo people with racial, social and educational advantage. Its a powerful movie for any of us who have ever lived close to the edge financially and realized There but for the grace of God go I when wev e seen someone else wiped out by divorce, disease or hard times. There are moments in Pursuit where the determination of Chris Gardner to keep his son, work for nothing and suffer rather than quit will make you cry. Will Smith comes of age as an actor who can explore the dark places that lie underneath the humor and wit of the man who wont tell you about his suffering because he has too much dignity. . Life is hard, even for bright high school graduates with big dreams. Skin color has little to do with Smiths predicament. Hes made some bad choices, found himself in a hopeless marriage and could fall into any number of predictable dead ends, but he simply is determined to survive and succeed. Though he lives on the outskirts of a sea of poverty and homelessness, and must navigate it, he has decided that he will build a life for his son, and he will not be another predictable story of failure. determined to be a great father, and he has been at every moment of his journey. Go see Pursuit of Happyness, and make sure that whoever made this movie experiences some of the success they deserve in a great country of great opportunities. Spiritually speaking, the movie is a feel good story of how a man can pull himself up by his own strength. Browse the bookstores and find whole sections that have man and his efforts at the core while neither needing or acknowledging God, whoever he is. The Word is powerful enough (Heb.4:12) to penetrate the racism of either the offender or the recipient of prejudice. The church is supposed to be the hand of God extended to those in need, not the government. uys: Im rather confused. Its obvious to everyone- especially conservatives- that people often need a hand. Despite an earlier comment assuming that conservatives dont help people, they do. Im well below the poverty line and I help people because its the right thing to do. Nothing in the movie or the review is inclined to the message that people dont need help. Its one guys story. He did the right thing and that included taking help. It didnt however include taking an affirmative action job. The problem I think liberals are going to have with this movie isnt the role of statist welfare solutions, but the role of the corporation, in this case Dean Witter. They gave him a job? Yeahand he earned the right to be considered. They may have been a bunch of old white guys, but they had a program that took a black guy with a high school education and gave him a shot at being a stock broker. They werent the bad guys, and the capitalism they practiced wasnt condemned as evil.

THATS what liberals wont like about this film. The private sector and individual effort, instead of government, were the heroes. It is demonstrably true that African Americans have not been well served by the welfare state. I believe Bill Clinton would agree with that. didnt and would never suggest that thats what you should preach, Michael. My comment was directed more toward remhj, who suggests that there is little to no merit in the socalled liberal approach. I think that Chris point was less to advocate for any particular approach, liberal or no, and more to raise a concern that one viewpoint is in constant danger of the implication that anyone who cant do what Gardner did in his situation only have themselves to blame, without taking into account the societal factors at play. That doesnt automatically translate to hard work is nice, but really the government will help you. You and I seem to be in agreement that government assistance in a limited role can and should be helpful, but individual motivation and perserverance is just as important if not moreso. And nowhere did I say that you should preach anything other than what you say youre preaching (in fact, I dont completely see how we got there). Instead of preaching that the answer is the kindness of others, I would say show kindness to others, whatever color you are. Henry: The movie was about getting a job. And the church did assist him. jnelson: Please dont take rhetorical comments personally. Ill have to rewrite everything I ever wrote and I hate putting smilies behind every sentence. Wheres the rolling eyes smiley? In no way do I advocate a boot strap mentality. Im glad the government is able to use my tax money to help people in need. In fact, I think we should be doing more of that than nation/democracy building in other parts of the world. The fact remains, however, that our welfare system creates a climate of poverty and encourages people to stay on it rather than help them financially and help them be self-sufficient. My response was mainly because Chris apparently cant go see a feel good movie without having a knee-jerk anti-conservative reaction to it. Whats not to like and be inspired by a story like this?

Did Chris really wait in line with his son for a room provided by a local church? Yes. Unlike in the movie, in real life the overnight rooms provided by Glide Memorial Church in the Tenderloin were originally only for homeless mothers with children. Reverend Cecil Williams, who plays himself in the film, made an exception for Chris and his young son. Like in the film, the line for the rooms formed around 6:00 pm and you had to be out by 8:00 am the following morning. Some nights Chris and his son were unable to make it in time, and they had to stay at the subway station or sleep at the airport in the waiting areas. Reverend Cecil Williams and other community activists had been feeding the homeless out of Moe's kitchen in the basement of Glide. They continue to do so until this day. Chris Gardner, who utilized Glide's help in the winter of 1982 and early 1983, paid Cecil back 25 years later by helping to bankroll a $50 million project that Cecil and Glide undertook to create affordable housing for lower income families. As part of the same project, a complex with business and retail shops was developed to create employment opportunities.

A Reflection on The Pursuit of Happyness: What Are We Pursuing?

The right answer seems to be realizing what is truly important in life, yet how does the movie end the pursuit of happiness? Happiness is achieved when Chris Gardner lands a six-figure commissioned salary brokerage job. The bright and shiny happy people in the movie were the rich. The poor were downtrodden, mentally ill, hostile, and dishonest. The poor guy won't pay you back the $14 he owes you, but the suit will fork over the $5 you gave him for cab fare. The message of the movie was MONEY = HAPPYNESS. The movie conflates two concepts and doesn't distinguish them survival and success. Most of the movie is focused on survival. The movie captures the truly horrific feeling of an empty wallet. Halfway through the show, I was thinking "Hell, I feel this way at home and I didn't have to pay $7.75 to feel poor." I am amazed every day at the thin line between disaster and survival. I see individuals everyday who are walking that tightrope or worse, who have fallen off already and just barely managed to grab on to the tightrope and are now moving hand over hand across the chasm of poverty. Over 90% of the people filing bankruptcy in this country have had one or a combination of these three things happen to them:
This time we see a Will Smith that no longer makes audience laughs from ear to ear but put them into deep thought. Definitely, while watching this movie, my emotion went up and down just as the leading role-Chriss experience and Ive really benefited a lot from this movie. The film is inspired by a true story of Chris Gardner and its mainly about: A San Francisco salesman struggles to build a future for him and his 5-year-old son Christopher. When his wife leaves him, he has to raise Christopher on his own. Chriss determination finally pays off when he gets an internship in a competitive stockbroker training program. But without a salary, he and his son are evicted from their apartment and have to sleep on the street and homeless shelters. With confidence and love and trust of his son, Chris rises above the obstacles to become a Wall Street legend. There are several plots in the movie that impress me so greatly that I cant help welling up. In the metro station, Chris pretends that theyve come back to a fancy world through the so-called time machine in order to console his son to have a good sleep. However, Chris himself has to endure someone knocking at the locked door angrily and shouting in a loud voice to prevent them from coming in. In such a formidable difficult situation, strong-minded as he is, Chris simply cant resist the feeling of loss and despair and sadly shed tears. However, thats life. Perhaps, it is just because Chris has gone through so miserable experiences can he make suc h great achievements later on. Now, we are all on our way to pursue happiness. But what is happiness and how can we get it then? Many people may think that first of all we should give happiness a definition by ourselves and that is the goal we want to reach for and then just fight for it. Nevertheless, its much easier said than done. Theres no denying that Chris in the moive has suffered enormously before success. But many of us might surrender in the face of... [continues] -

The Pursuit of Happyness

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (Gabriele Muccino, 2006) Being a good, hard-working person who loves one's family should be all that it takes for a lifetime of joy. Sadly, it doesn't always work out that way. In THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is all those things. He breaks his back day in and day out in 1981 San Francisco trying to sell the portable bone density scanners in which he sank his life savings. Unlike his own dad, he's a good father to his son Christopher (Jaden Smith) and loves his wife Linda (Thandie Newton). Yet each day is a struggle. Chris' business investment hasn't been as lucrative as he expected. Doctors like his product but don't consider it a necessity. The meager income he and his wife make isn't really enough to pay the monthly bills or their outstanding taxes. One day Chris observes the smiling faces of people flowing into and out of an office building. What could they be doing that has them flush with cash and happiness? He learns that they are employed at a stock brokerage firm, one that also happens to be accepting applications for a six-month internship program. Chris has always been good with numbers, so he jumps at the chance to make a career switch that will make him more capable of providing for his family. Linda isn't as enthralled with his plan. Since Chris has no experience as a stock broker, she believes he's wasting his time applying for a spot in the competitive program. As both of them later learn, the internship is unpaid. Upon completion only one of the twenty interns is likely to earn a job with the company. It doesn't take a math whiz to see that the odds don't favor Chris. He is undeterred, but Linda cannot take it any longer. She follows through with her threat to leave Chris but agrees to leave their son with her husband. As if life weren't urgent enough before, now he must fulfill the role of two parents while working even harder to sell the remaining scanners to sustain them during his internship at Dean Witter. The common struggles of working people are rarely shown in major Hollywood films without some embellishments to glamorize poverty, usually in imbuing the poor with special wisdom about what's important. Such techniques might make audiences feel better, but these narrative devices can feel dishonest. Based on a true story, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS is a feel-good film with plot conveniences that stack needless burdens on the main character, but it takes great care to show how difficult it can be to pull oneself up. Shot with muted colors on a finer grain film stock, the images have a grittier texture. In story and style THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS also sounds a faint echo of the Italian neorealist tradition. (Chris' hand-to-mouth living and constant setbacks recall UMBERTO D.) As Chris hopes to change the trajectory of his professional life, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS serves a similar purpose for Smith. The happy-go-lucky star of several blockbusters remains as affable as ever, but here Smith trades his usual suaveness and stylishness for gray-flecked hair, work clothes, and lower class living conditions. The change looks good on him and benefits the film. As Chris, Smith radiates decency radiates even in the most dire circumstances. The key scene in THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS and for Smith's performance arrives

in one of those ridiculous movie conventions when the wrong events converge. The day before the most important interview of his life Chris is hauled into the local precinct because of unpaid parking tickets. He spends his last dollars to take care of them, but he must be kept in a holding cell until the check clears the next morning. Of course, that's not long before his internship interview. And yes, because Chris was painting his apartment when he was detained, he's raggedly dressed and splattered with paint. Chris impresses the interviewers and convinces the audience that he could do so because Smith comes across as humble, intelligent, and composed while obviously being in desperate need of the opportunity. Smith's charisma appears to have been passed along to his son Jaden, who plays his child in the film. The younger Smith gives a relaxed performance that is cute but not overly precocious. What THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS lacks in surprises it compensates for in heart. It won't take two guesses to determine how Chris' story turns out, but it's gratifying to see him chase survival and exceed his expectations. Grade: B

The Pursuit of Happyness: **** This one yanked my heart out. Its one of those great against-all-odds movies where you (at some points) have to spend quite a bit of energy to keep from crying. And once in a while (like when the five-year-old son tells his dad, Youre a good papa) you get so close to yelping that you make one of those bizarre Im-trying-not-to-cry gasping sounds. For super-macho men like myself, this can be quite embarrassing (though my wife loves it). The story, set in San Francisco in the early 1980s, is about an African American man who goes through an unbelievably tough streak. He uses his life savings to purchase a bunch of radiology machines that arent selling, despite his best efforts. His wife works two full -time jobs but still doesnt earn enough to cover their expenses. The stress of being the sole financial provider for the family has her teetering on the edge of a breakdown, so when her husband decides he wants to take an unpaid internship with a brokerage firm, she snapsand leaves him and their 5 year-old son. Shortly after this, he and his son get evicted because he cant pay the rent. They move into a shady motel filled with others facing similar plights, but are again evicted a short time later. The story centers on how this man pursues his dream of becoming a stockbroker while he and his son live on the streets. Happyness is based on the true story of a now-very-successful man named Chris Gardner, and its told brilliantly. It avoids the pitfalls of many movies in this genre it doesnt make Chris out to be too saintly, it doesnt present a dualistic worldview in which all poor people are virtuous and all rich people are villains, and it doesnt preach at the audience. It just lets the story tell itself. The acting is this movies greatest strength. Chriss relationship with his son Chr istopher is the major emotive force behind the movie, so everything hangs on the credibility of this relationship as it plays out. Will Smith plays Chris, and Jaden Smith (Wills real life son) plays Christopher, and this explains why their on-screen relationship is so credible and genuine. They both give Oscar-caliber performances, and this makes what would have been a good movie a truly great movie. Happyness also teaches some important lessons. As its title suggests, this is a movie about pursuing dreams. Never let anybody tell you you cant do something, the father tells his son. Taken out of context, of course, this could be profoundly bad advice for a parent to give a child. But when applied to the dreams lying dormant in a childs heart, its something every child desperately needs to hear. In fact, its something all of us adults need to be reminded of as well. A second important lesson concerns the plight of the homeless. Happyness gives audiences a realistic glimpse into a slice of America most Americans are unfamiliar with, at least on a personal level. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are homeless, and about a quarter of them are children. Though the numbers are staggering (and rising at an alarming rate), we as a society are pretty good at keeping this truth under wraps. While the homeless are sometimes dismissed as being lazy, the fact is that almost one third of them work. In this respect, Chris Garder was not as unique as one might have thought. This movie puts a human face on homelessness. And in doing this, it prompts us to ask a question we should never stop asking: What responsibility do we, as those who have more than we need, have toward our neighbors who have less than they need? Do we see the face of Christ in the poor and treat them accordingly (Mt. 25:34-36)? Or as so many of the wealthy in this movie did do we just choose not to notice?