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The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
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Reviews Counted:165
Fresh:109
Rotten:56
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Will Smith’s heartfelt performance elevates The Pursuit of Happyness above mere melodrama.
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $162,586,036
Synopsis: In The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a family man struggling to make ends meet. Despite his valiant attempts to help keep the family afloat, the mother (Thandie Newton) of his... In The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a family man struggling to make ends meet. Despite his valiant attempts to help keep the family afloat, the mother (Thandie Newton) of his five-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith) is buckling under the constant strain of financial pressure. No longer able to cope, she reluctantly decides to leave. Chris, now a single father, continues doggedly to pursue a better-paying job using every sales skill he knows. He lands an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm, and although there is no salary, he accepts, hopeful he will end the program with a job and a promising future. Without a financial cushion, Chris and his son are soon evicted from their apartment and forced to sleep in shelters, bus stations, bathrooms, or wherever they can find refuge for the night. Despite his troubles, Chris continues to honor his commitment as a loving and caring father, using the affection and trust his son has placed in him as an impetus to overcome the obstacles he faces. Columbia Pictures presents in association with Relativity Media an Overbrook Entertainment/Escape Artists Production The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, Thandie Newton and introducing Jaden Christopher Syre Smith. The film is directed by Gabriele Muccino and written by Steven Conrad. The producers are Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, James Lassiter and Will Smith. The executive producers are Louis D’Esposito, Mark Clayman, David Alper and Teddy Zee. The director of photography is Phedon Papamichael, ASC. The production designer is J. Michael Riva. The film editor is Hughes Winborne, A.C.E. The costume designer is Sharen Davis. The music is by Andrea Guerra. The Pursuit of Happyness has been rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for Some Language. The Pursuit of Happyness will be released by Columbia Pictures on December 15, 2006. -- © Columbia Pictures [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Thandie Newton
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Screenwriter: Steve Conrad
Producer: Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, James Lassiter
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Reviews for The Pursuit of Happyness
Directed by talented young Gabriele Muccino, the film benefits from his outsider's observations, and he is far too smart a filmmaker to let schmaltz creep into the tone.
The whole thing works. This earnest, modest, sweet little ode to paternal love is meant to warm the cockles of our hearts in a season overrun with cockle-warming, and even a recalcitrant Scrooge may sniff back a few salty droplets.
There's nothing new here, just a whole lot of the old dependable. The difference is that the old dependable is above average.
This is Smith as you've never seen him -- an unsure, struggling, frustrated guy trying to hold together his family and failing.
Few films so convincingly portray the titanic struggle that some people face day in and day out just to survive.
This is Will Smith's triumph, and it's worth a look alone to see this tiresome actor in a role that requires a rare amount of patience from him.
Gardner's fight is everyman's fight... to remain true to his material objectives without sacrificing that which really matters to him-- his trusting little shadow.
It's the picture's lifelike approach, from the immediacy of Italian director Gabriele Muccino's use of a handheld camera to screenwriter Steven Conrad's keen sense of the little things that make or break a day, that renders it truly moving.
... there's something so slick, so neat and tidy about the production ... that it clashes with the desperate anguish of the down-and-out main character.
As one bad thing is piled on another, it starts to feel like a test of Job proportions. This movie could drift over into melodrama were it not for the performance from Will Smith.
It's more interested in the concrete details of Chris Gardner's life: finding a place to sleep, trying to stay upbeat, trying to keep his co-workers from finding out how close he is to living in a box. Which is why it's so powerful at the end.
An admirably unsentimental biopic with an excellent central performance, but it doesn’t impact as strongly as it could.
Thankfully, humor leavens the dark journey, and little Jaden and his jokes go a long way to warm our hearts.
Smith hasn't delivered this kind of earnest, emotionally raw performance since Ali, and his Chris Gardner is every bit as complex.
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