The Pursuit of Happyness

The Pursuit of Happyness (Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) – In an Oscar-worth stunning performance, Will Smith proves that he among Hollywood’s most talented and versatile actors capable of carrying an entire movie.  Smith appears in virtually every shot of this movie as the smart, but unsuccessful, salesman of medical equipment whose life never matched is ambition.  Having never met his father before he was 28, he vowed that, if he ever had a son, he would be a great father.  And he is in a life totally devoted to his son, educating him every day about life and words.  Life hasn’t treated Chris Gardner well.  His wife, played by the very talented Thandie Newton (Crash, Mission Impossible II), admittedly weak and unable to handle being a mother and a working stiff, bails out of the marriage when things get rough.  So Chris, using considerable charm and a salesman’s persistence, impossibly wins a coveted internship at Dean Witter.  He spends his days chasing a job seemingly outside his grasp and his nights standing in a line to get a room for his son and him at a local, San Francisco shelter.  The ending is pre-ordained, but the journey is pure hell and a pursuit not only for happiness (you’ll find out the origin of the misspelled title at a day-case center) but also for dignity.  This is a don’t-miss film from Italian director Gabriele Muccino in his first American film.  Smith produced it himself and helped cast his real life son (with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith), Jaden, in the pivotal role of his trusting, loving boy.  Smith seems like one of the most grounded of Hollywood stars whose career has spanned TV (The Fresh Price of Bel-Air), rap, and film.  His performance here, as in Ali, is transforming.  He finds a way to show his failure while allowing the audience to glimpse the brilliance underneath while fighting obstacle after obstacle.  He’ll give Leonardo DiCaprio a run for the money in the Oscar race.