The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) In 1981, in San Francisco, the smart salesman and family man Chris Gardner

invests the family savings in Osteo National bone-density scanners, an apparatus twice as expensive as an x-ray machine but with a slightly clearer image. This white elephant financially breaks the family, bringing troubles to his relationship with his wife Linda, who leaves him and moves to New York where she has taken a job in a pizza parlor. Their son Christopher stays with Chris because he and his wife both know that he will be able to take better care of him. Without any money or a wife, but committed to his son, Chris sees a chance to fight for a stockbroker internship position at Dean Witter, offering a more promising career at the end of a six-month unpaid training period. During that period, Chris goes through a lot of hardship personally and professionally. When he thinks he is "stable," he finds that he has lost $600 when the government takes the last bit of money in his bank account for taxes. He is rendered homeless because he can't pay his rent. He is forced at one point to stay in a bathroom at a train station, and must scramble from work every day to the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which offers shelter to the homeless. He must leave work early every day so that he is there by 5:00 in the evening along with his son so that he may be assured of a place to sleep. He is seen carrying his suitcase to work because he doesn't have a home. At work, there are nineteen other candidates for the one position. One day, he is called into an office and in it were the heads of Dean Witter. Chris thinks that he is about to be told the job will not be his as he says that he wore a shirt and tie for his final day. Then they tell him that he has been an excellent trainee and that tomorrow he will have to wear his shirt and tie again as it will be his first day as a broker. Chris struggles to hold back tears. Outside he begins to cry as the busy people of San Francisco walk past him. He rushes to his son's daycare, hugging him and knowing that after everything him and his son had been through things would be all right. The final scene shows Chris walking with his son down a street. His son is telling him a joke, when a wealthy business man in a suit walks past. Chris looks back as the man continues on. The man in the suit is none other than the real Chris Gardner. Will Smith plays a down-and-out but undaunted go-getter in Pursuit of Happyness. By Kevin Crust Times Staff Writer December 15, 2006 Among the inalienable rights promised in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, happiness is the only one not guaranteed. We are theoretically assured of life and liberty, but happiness we are left to pursue on our own. The Pursuit of Happyness, a routine domestic drama starring Will Smith, is the story of one mans unwavering pursuit for a better life (and presumably happiness with an i) against long odds.

The movie is inspired by a true story, that of Chris Gardner, who was among San Franciscos working homeless in the early 80s and managed to pull himself and his young son up by the bootstraps. Inspired by is an interesting phrase because the movie is more inspiring than inspired. The mans struggles are emotionally engaging, but dramatically it lacks the layering of a Kramer vs. Kramer, which it superficially resembles. This is a much lower-key performance than were used to seeing from Smith, and he pulls it off admirably. He plays the fictionalized Gardner as an intelligent, energetic guy who cant catch a break. In fact, in the sluggish Bay Area economy of 1981, hes losing ground. Hes invested his familys money in a load of cutting-edge bone-density scanners that, unfortunately for him, provide a slightly better image than an X-ray at twice the cost. Though the subject matter is serious, the film itself is rather slight, and it relies on the actor to give it any energy. Even in a more modest register, Smith is a very appealing leading man, and he makes Gardners plight compelling. Running from doctors office to hospital peddling his scanners, we see Chris plentiful people skills at work. Still, theres not enough money coming in, and his wife, Linda (Thandie Newton), whos been working double shifts in a laundry, leaves him to care alone for their 5year-old son, Christopher (played by Smith and Jada Pinkett Smiths son, 7-year-old Jaden Christopher Syre Smith). With his finances at less than zero, Chris embarks on an unpaid six-month internship at the end of which one of 20 hopefuls will land a job as a stockbroker. Staying one step ahead of the taxman and moving from apartment to motel to shelter to subway station, Chris is a model of persistence as he clings to his dream. The most effective aspect of the film is the relationship between father and son. Its a love story in the purest sense as Chris tries to shield Christopher from the hardships they face, and its instances like this that makes you think nepotism can be a good thing. The younger Smith, who reportedly auditioned for the part, is precocious but not annoyingly so. Hes inherited his parents good looks and has impeccable comic timing, enlivening the gloomier stretches of the story. Steve Conrad wrote the screenplay after executive producer Mark Clayman saw a 20/20 story on the real-life Gardner, and he litters the movie Gardners path with nonstop obstacles, many of which are so improbable they must be true. Italian director Gabriele Muccino (whose film The Last Kiss was recently remade with Zach Braff) keeps a low profile, allowing the Smiths to carry the day. The Pursuit of Happyness is an unexceptional film with exceptional performances and, if youre curious, takes its titles quirky spelling from a mural outside Christophers Chinatown day-care center. There are worse ways to spend the holidays, and, at the least, it will likely make you appreciate your own circumstances.