Synopsis:
Chris Gardner (Will Smith) has had a string of bad luck. He sunk his life savings into a medical supply company that isn’t selling. His wife, Linda (Thandie Newton) resents him, and he can barely provide for his son (Smith’s real-life son Jaden), the center of his life. Things go from bad to worse when Linda leaves him, but Chris has a dream. He wants to be a stock broker for Dean Witter. Now he’s risking everything with an unpaid internship, taking a chance in the pursuit of happiness…..
Review:
Unfortunately, though I watched this on DVD and this should be a DVD review, I didn’t actually check out the special features (I watched a single disc widescreen copy from Blockbuster.) As a result, this review is going to be about the movie itself and not about the DVD. If I get a chance to actually check out the disc itself sometime, I’ll post an addendum to this review with details on special features and extras.
Plot: You can’t criticize the plot much because this movie is based on a true story. It’s hard to say real life wasn’t good enough. I thought the story flowed well and it definitely portrayed a man, down on his luck, who refused to let go of his dream. Though most of the movie was sad, with one setback after another, the overall story is uplifting. Surprisingly, there is a bit of comedy in the film and I did find myself laughing a few times. I don’t want to ruin the ending, though I think you can guess what it is. You’ll feel good when you’re done watching this movie.
Acting: The acting was great. I’ve always liked Will Smith, but this was definitely one of his best performances to date. He definitely produced Oscar-worthy work in this movie. He really shows the determination, fear, frustration, and hope that (I’d like to believe) the real Chris Gardner felt. I was also impressed by Jaden Smith. His role, though critical, doesn’t require great depth. After all, Christopher Gardner was only 5 years old. How deep can he be? Still, the boy acted well and I think the existing father/son relationship showed on the screen. The rest of the cast is inconsequential, though I really did get to hating Thandie Newton’s Linda.
Overall: I think that altogether this was a good movie. The story was great and the acting definitely left an impression. I would highly recommend you watch this movie if not purchase it. It’s definitely the type of movie that motivates you and keeps you hopeful. The movie has questionable replay value, but I think that being such a good film makes it a necessary part of a true move collection.
The Pursuit of Happyness (Widescreen Edition)
July 7th, 2007 at 7:06 PM
My comments need to start with a caveat– I haven’t actually seen this movie.
But I take issue with your comment that the plot can’t be criticized because it is based on a true story. The truth is always tinkered around with in books and movies based on real life for plot reasons–as it should be.
I am reminded of a creative writing class I took freshman year in college. I wrote a short story that was a true-life account of my father’s death. The professor told me that in the story my father’s death happened “too suddenly” giving the readers no opportunity to “prepare” for the death. I was quite miffed for a while–if I didn’t have time to prepare for my dad’s death, why should the readers? But later I realized she had a point–real life very often doesn’t make for good plots, which is why so few books and movies are actually true-to-life.
July 8th, 2007 at 7:03 AM
I think you make an excellent point here. Real-life is rarely consumer friendly as is, but the question then becomes: how can the audience tell fact from fiction? I guess the key words for filmmaker is “based on,” but that doesn’t identify what’s real and what isn’t.
I think that you have to accept a “true story” the way it was presented. Maybe I can make my point with an example. In the film, Chris Gardner gets an internship after showing up for an interview in jeans and a t-shirt with paint on his hair and face. With only his high school education, he gets the job. Is this possible? Definitely. Is it likely to happen? The chances are slim to none. Did it really happen? Who knows. As long as the “artistic liberties” taken are within the realm of possibilities, then you can’t really call them good or bad, if only because you can’t tell if they’re real or not.
I guess the danger for the critic is to tell a real person that their struggle wasn’t entertaining enough, or their challenge wasn’t great enough. If you treat the film as complete fiction, then you can be critical of it. I don’t think that its fair to do that. Afterall, these people are real. You might think its being PC or not trying to hurt someones feelings or something like that. I mean a critic can’t do their job without offending someone, but I tend to think this is being respectful.
I also think that your professor was mistaken. Why should the readers experience anything different from what you experienced? Isn’t that the point of telling your story? Maybe I’m starting to argue a different point here, but real life is powerful. It may not have an intro, a climax, and a conclusion, but it happened. Knowing that has an impact on the audience. At least, I like to believe that it does, it does for me. Isn’t that why people read newspapers? To know what really happened.
July 10th, 2007 at 4:50 PM
This is an interesting discussion since it is not just about the movie but the nature of criticism itself. Both of you have made excellent points and I’d like to add my point of view. I believe a story based on the life of a person is open to some criticism. While I wouldn’t dream of questioning the validity of the events themselves, I can question the way in which they are presented. For my example, I’ll take the numerous ‘bone density scanner’ chase scenes. Although the loss of the valuable piece of equipment must have been a troubling time for Chris, in the movie it is used to a humorous effect especially since he keeps losing and recovering it. I don’t know if this really happened (maybe once but not that many times and so conveniently) and I don’t care. What does bother me is how the scenes belong in a different movie altogether and disrupt the tone of the story. For this I wouldn’t blame Chris (he’s lived much too hard a life, most of which wasn’t even included in the movie based on what a friend told me about his book), but the filmmakers. I’m not saying the whole thing had to be gloom and doom but there is comedy to be found in small moments of life before resorting to slapstick. For the record I laughed during these scenes, but I didn’t feel right about it. I guess what I’m saying is the story counts but the tone counts just as much. In cases where the story is beyond reproach, the tone bears twice the responsibility for drawing the viewer in.
Karen, I too would have to disagree with your professor. I won’t pretend to trivialize life and the crap it slings at us by comparing it directly to the movies but it is true that things happen suddenly in life just as things happen suddenly in movies (or in other media). Some of my most searing memories (real and viewed) were ones that struck me while I was unprepared.