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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... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Thandie Newton
Director: Gabriele Muccino
This is one of the few American movies to deal with how people live and survive. It admires smart brokers but also feels for the many people down below, and we know that Chris will not claim his 'happyness' by becoming a cold fish in a glass office.
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.
Director Gabriele Muccino and producer-actor Smith have made a humble and affecting tribute to the struggles of the urban poor in America, while demonstrating, at least, one man’s relentless pursuit of joy.
The best performances and greatest art direction in the world cannot cover this ill-begotten drama's hollow center.
A movie star who can slip easily into high-beam mode, Smith gives a restrained and nuanced turn.
The movie really turns on the central portrayal of a father's fierce commitment to his son, helped immeasurably by the obvious bond between Will and Jaden (who is off-the-charts adorable).
For anybody who ever has been at the bottom, or feared they were headed there, it's a reminder that there's no guarantee of luck or happiness in the Declaration of Independence -- just the right to pursue it.
Honest tears, honestly earned, is the credo and it's practiced here.
Smith may be the closest Hollywood has to a modern Cary Grant, an instantly likable actor comfortable in every role he attempts.
Like other institutions designed to separate you from your money, Hollywood grows a conscience every year at this time.
The movie is essentially a vehicle for Smith, but the actor more than rises to the challenge. Rarely has attaining the American Dream seemed so impossible or daunting or so intensely, profoundly satisfying.
There are worse ways to spend the holidays, and, at the least, it will likely make you appreciate your own circumstances.
Top CriticAs a portrait of noble striving, you could do a lot worse.
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.
For an expensive, mainstream Hollywood movie, The Pursuit of Happyness is crisscrossed with mixed motives.
The Pursuit of Happyness attempts to be a warm movie with a good message. But its message is substantially skewed and the resulting warmth factor is decidedly low.
The subject of The Pursuit of Happyness denies all the odds and refuses to quit, and this movie has the same fighting, American spirit.
Tthis is one of Smith's best performances. He's convincing as a man who may have been stripped of his dignity but who still believes in himself.
I left the movie thinking that a whole lot of folks in Gardner's situation can't do what he did. They can't break the cycle of poverty. They never get off the street. But this is the story of one man who made it, and Smith does him justice.
Pursuit of Happyness isn't just a balm intended to heal negative depictions of AWOL African-American fathers. The movie pays respect to all single parents striving to do the right thing with few resources.
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