POH is a worthy story, let down by script.
Written: Dec 19 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The Story is inspirational.....
Cons: .....But not the movie.
The Bottom Line: If you want to know the real life story of Chris Gardner, read the book. If you are a Will Smith diehard, then I guess see the movie.
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| casualsuede's Full Review: The Pursuit of Happyness |
I really wanted to like the Pursuit of Happyness (POH from now on). It had Will Smith, whom I really liked in both his showmanship modes (Bad Boys, Hitch, ID4) and many of his serious roles that he played (Ali, 6 degrees of separation) and told the story of Chris Gardner, whose story I saw on 60 minutes (and it brought tears to my eyes). However, he is sorely let down by a bad script that robs the movie of all it's potential power and emotions.
The story centers around the above mentioned Chris Gardner, a hardworking, smart guy who invested badly in a medical technology that is unfortunately seen as an indulgent extravagance and can't sell them. He is at the edge (of bankruptcy, his marriage, losing his home) when he meets a happy guy who is parking his Ferrari. He asks him what he does and he is told that he is a Stock Broker. Looking around, he sees that everyone in the business district seems to be happy, so he decides at that one point to become a Stock Broker (not really knowing how stressful the job is in real life).
But how to be a stock broker? He finds out that Dean Witter (now apart of Morgan Stanley) has an intern program that takes in 20 people and hires one person. This, Chris decides, is his way into the program, but there are two problems.
The first is that many many smart people from Ivy League schools are trying to get into this program. Chris has a HS education, but this does not prevent him.
The second is that the job does not pay a cent. How can he do this job, maintain his family and eat and put a roof over his families head?
The program would be the longest 6 months of his life, where he is stripped of all the modest things in his life, but in the ends up with the two things he really needs (his son and his determination) and develops a new found sense of happyness (it is a fallacy to those who thinks that he is only in it for the money and bling - he is in it to provide for his son so he will never end up like his father who abandoned him when he was a child).
While this seems like an inspirational story, it fails in many ways in my opinion.
One way that it fails in is the way it trys to break the movie up into chapters. First off, I don't understand why the writers even bothered, since they give each chapter such simplistic, boring titles like "Running" that provide little insight into the psyche of the story.
Another is the fact that this movie has very little emotion and quiet moments because it seems like a chunk of it involves Will Smith just running from one location to another. It tries to show how hard Chris Gardner tried to succeed, but then it shows "sitcom" moments like him trying to get to a meeting and being stopped by his boss who wants him to park his car.
One thing that I would have liked to have seen is how hard Chris studied for the Brokers exam and how disadvantaged he was compared to his competitors (lights out at 9 at the homeless shelter, having no place to live, having to leave earlier than everyone else to pick up his son), but things like that are barely touched upon, given only a few minutes, because Chris always seems to have some moment that involves him running or taking the bus.
I expected to shed tears (and I am a whiny baby in these kinds of movies) but I didn't shed one tear. I am the first to admit that a movie that manipulates me to feel certain emotions but services the story is not something that I feel contempt to, but POH doesn't even have such moments. The movie plays like a someone was going down a checklist, checking out the boxes of Chris' life. Loses home? Check. Loses wife? Check. Sleeps in Bathroom? Check.
Will Smith does a credible job with the role. He plays it straight and generates some sympathy in the lead. However, he has very little to play with. His son, played by his real son is also earnestly played, but unlike some of these entertainment rags, Jaden is not going to win an award. He is no Dakota Fanning or Haley Joel Osment....yet.
If you want to see a wholesome family movies with good values, then the POH is not such a bad movie (it's very inoffensive).
However, if you want to actually learn about Chris Gardner's amazing story, I suggest you read his book of the same name, which gives powerful insight into his life....RATING: C-
Recommended:
No
Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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Epinions.com ID:
casualsuede
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Location: toronto
Reviews written: 159
Trusted by: 8 members
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