Will Smith has his best screen role ever and he runs with it. He's flat-out great.
Comment
12/17/06
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
66
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
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... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Thandie Newton
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Reviews for The Pursuit of Happyness
61 - 80 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
The most emotionally rewarding father-son narrative experience at the movies since a certain 1997 triple Oscar winner.
12/17/06
Smith's performance is terrific, but it's in service of a clumsy, heavy-handed film that believes the ultimate measure of a man is how hard he chases what he desires - wealth, fame, Oscars.
12/17/06
Smith's charm, which he has used to great effect in everything from sitcoms to action movies, matures here onscreen. He's suddenly the new Tom Hanks...
12/16/06
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.
12/16/06
I really liked this film. But don't forget to bring the hankies.
12/16/06
[Smith] gives one of his most subdued performances, gracefully balancing Gardner's driving ambition with his hard-luck reality.
12/16/06
Do we really want to see Will Smith suffer for over an hour and a half? Not really
12/16/06
Makes Working Girl look like a whiny brat. It's a jiggy Secret of My Success. It's like the best very special episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Somebody stop me.
12/15/06
Even the considerable charms of both Smith and the personable character he plays may not be enough to keep audiences from growing impatient to get to the good stuff.
12/15/06
Guitar-strumming hippie chicks, homeless nutcases, Chinese-speaking day care operators and non-Smith black folks -- bad; rich white stock brokers with box seats at 49ers games -- good.
12/15/06
perfectly respectable, if simplistic
12/15/06
... 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.
12/15/06
Most of the press on The Pursuit of Happyness has focused on the surprising performance of young Jaden Smith. And yes, the kid is really that good.
12/15/06
Some people will see The Pursuit of Happyness as a glorification of capitalism, but the movie is much less about 'getting' than it is about 'not having.'
12/15/06
When these characters win their share of comfort and joy, they bring the audience bounties of wisdom and euphoria.
12/15/06
The film makes it seem as if the only obstacles Chris faces are a lack of a college education and the fellow poor who keep stealing his scanners.
12/15/06
The Pursuit of Happyness can't imagine anything worse than being poor. Except maybe being surrounded by poor people.
12/15/06
Ultimately, the real Chris Gardner emerges as an inspirational American success story -- and Will Smith emerges as a fine and nuanced actor.
12/15/06
Will Smith has the right quality for the role -- he's an easy man to root for -- but he augments this by channeling some inner quality of desperation and need.
12/15/06
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