Will Smith's Shock Performance In "The Pursuit Of Happyness": A Review

Any time you encounter a Will Smith movie, he's valiantly fighting to save the world from something. In The Pursuit Of Happyness, it's different. He's valiantly fighting to save himself.

Movies featuring Will Smith usually pit him as an energetic, wise cracking hero amid a bunch of aliens and special effects. But perhaps it is because of - or in spite of - this pedigree that Smith manages to surprise us with a remarkably low-key and touching performance as a down on his luck single father trying to make ends meet for his family.

The Pursuit Of Happyness In A Sentence: A struggling father overcomes marriage break-up, homelessness and getting hit by a car in order to secure a better future for him and his son.

Movie Opinions: The movie is based on the real life experiences of Christopher Gardiner. Chris' marriage broke up due to financial pressures the couple were experiencing, and when his wife left for New York, he and his son eventually ended up homeless, just as he secured an internship at a major brokerage.

Chris decides to continue the internship, and unbeknown to his new colleagues, he's struggling to make ends meet and sleeping in homeless shelters at night or in the toilets at the train station.

The movie strikes a balance between triumph and adversity for Chris - as soon as something goes right for him, you can be sure something else will go wrong. It's this constant tension coupled with Will Smith's stirring performance that wears you down. You will empathize with the characters, and by the closing moments, you'll feel as if you've gone through Gardiner's experiences too. It's an emotionally crushing story, and the ending is handled exceptionally well - although you discover Gardiner will eventually become a millionaire, the emotion of the moment is relief that both father and son will be financially secure. 

Most Emotional Moment: When they're sleeping rough in the station toilet, someone tries to get in. Chris, sitting on the floor, wedges his foot against the door and you can see the tears streaming down his face as the strain of living rough takes its toll.

Possible Weak Point: I found myself wondering why Gardiner didn't send his son to New York to live with his mother for a short while. He would have been able to concentrate on the internship and would have spared the child the trauma and uncertainty of sleeping rough. I understand that he didn't want to leave his son, but was that really the best decision - as a parent - he could have made?

The Acting: Will Smith is outstanding. If you've seen his other big budget movies, you'd be inclined to think this was a different actor altogether. What a good idea to have his son Jaden play his screen son, I'm sure this sharpened Smith's empathy for the characters. Thandie Newton's brief role as the mother has her looking remarkably aged and down-at-heel. As Gardiner's wife, we see her as both overworked and stressed, and her frustration fires back on her husband until ultimately she chooses to leave for New York.