The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Directed by Gabriele Muccino
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
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13 films that influenced The Pursuit of Happyness
What critics say influenced The Pursuit of Happyness
The film rather started to remind me of Zhang Yimou's To Live, a 1994 film about the endless hardships endured by a Chinese family as their fortunes plummet.
We're left with a queasy mix of "Working Girl" (1988) and Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief" (1948).None of these problems can be laid at the door of the actors.
It reminded me of the same sweet spot between movie star and regular person that Julia Roberts was able to hit in "Erin Brockovich."
Set in San Francisco during the early 1980s (there's a Raging Bull poster tossed in, if you don't believe me), the film has Smith's Gardner lugging around useless medical props, watching over his kid (Jaden Smith, Will's son) after his wife (Thandie Newton, again playing the shrew -- where's the lyricism that Bertolucci and Demme mined?) leaves him, and attending a competitive stock-broker internship while sleeping in subway restrooms.
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Some critics have already noted that the film is like an American version of Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio de Sica's masterpiece of Italian neo-realism.
“The Pursuit of Happyness” many times borders on fairy tale territory in the vein of “In America,” in which our characters are always in the area of danger, but never in life threatening danger.
Will Smith's performance here recalls his outing in "Six Degrees of Separation" (1993), where he likewise played an aspirant to the high life, trading on smarts and charm but fired by a gnawing desperation.
It's been clear since 1993's "Six Degrees of Separation" that Mr. Smith has significant talent to match his charm.
His breakthrough was in another serious role, Six Degrees of Separation, and he was excellent in Ali.
It also doesn’t help to see a Raging Bull ad roll past atop a taxicab; segueing by association, I’m no fan of Taxi Driver, but this movie would have benefited tremendously from a couple of drops of its vitriol.
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Granted, this is no Glengarry Glen Ross, but it shows the pressure these salesmen are under and how important the contact lists are.
Did you know that Jim Carrey almost played Buddy the Elf and that Will Ferrell turned down a massive payday to do a sequel?