The Pursuit of Happyness
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes
Directed by: Gabriele Muccino
Starring:
Will Smith - Chris Gardner
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith - Christopher
Thandie Newton - Linda
It's just adorable that people still believe in the American Dream and want to make you believe it as well. That beautiful, Horatio Alger story of rags to riches; that if you just work hard enough then gosh-darn it you're gonna make it in this beautiful country of ours! And if you don't, well then you're probably just lazy.
After books like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and other framings of The American Dream as The American Delusion, how does Chris Gardner's story of triumph work? Even more problematic, Mr. Gardner triumphed both professionally and personally.
Before my liberal cynicism takes over this review, I want to make it clear that I am not criticizing the real-life events of Chris Gardner. The film is based on those events but since I have no way of knowing the truth behind every narrative decision, I have to take the real Mr. Gardner's story out of the equation and focus on what the film is trying to do in its two hour runtime.
If you've seen a single commercial for this film then I doubt anything in the plot will surprise you. Gardner is a single father after his wife (Thandie Newton) leaves him because she's the worst person alive (okay, that's stretching it but she's a dreamcrusher. Granted, she offers to take their son when she leaves which is more than that bitch Meryl Streep ever did in Kramer vs. Kramer but other than that, crusher of dreams). Gardner has a crap job selling a useless piece of medical equipment but he takes a chance on an internship at a brokerage firm. See, Chris is tenacious and smart (he solves a Rubix Cube! Good thing this story happened in the 80s because there would be no other way of showing that he's not a moron). It's going to be a lot of hard work for him and his son, but you know, I just got a feeling that Chris was gonna make it in the end.
While the film may be trying to tell me the origin story of that one black guy at the Republican National Convention, it still allows for Will Smith to give his best performance since Ali. I have to applaude screenwriter Steven Conrad for making the relationship between Chris and his son authentic rather than a hagiography. It would be too easy if Chris were mostly upbeat and just had a good cry now and then. Instead, he shows that even the best fathers lose their tempers. Chris Jr. is already adorable but he could be the perfect kid, never giving his father a reason to snap. But sometimes Chris gets obnoxious and you can see Chris Sr. instantly regretting the decision to let his child have sugar. If there's a reason to see this film, it's the real and moving relationship between a father and son. Furthermore, this relationship should not be shortchanged by the real-life father-son relationship between the two actors. It's well-written and well-performed and that's where credit is due.
The father-son story is where the film shines but because it brings nothing unique to that narrative, the weaker, more divisive economic subverts the story and turns poignancy into propaganda.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
11.30.06