Based on a true story about a man named Christopher Gardner. Gardner has invested heavily in a device known as a “Bone Density scanner”. He feels like he has made these devices. However, they do not sell as they are marginally better than the current technology at a much higher price. On top of that, one of these does not work. As Gardner tries to figure out on how to fix the faulty one and sell the others, his wife leaves him, he loses his house, his bank account, and credit cards. Forced to live out in the streets with his son, Gardner is now desperate to find a steady job; he takes on a job as a stockbroker, but before he can receive pay, he needs to go through 6 months of training, and to sell his devices.
Genre(s): Biography, Drama
Runtime: 117 minutes
Rating: 7.8/10 (66,004 votes)
Release Date: 15 December 2006
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Sound: DTS, Dolby Digital, SDDS
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some language.
Director(s): Gabriele Muccino
Producer(s):
David Alper – executive producer
Todd Black – producer
Jason Blumenthal – producer
Mark Clayman – executive producer
Louis D'Esposito – executive producer
Chris Gardner – associate producer (as Christopher P. Gardner)
James Lassiter – producer
Will Smith – producer
Steve Tisch – producer
Teddy Zee – executive producer
Writer(s):
Steve Conrad – (written by) (as Steven Conrad)
Cast:
Will Smith – Chris Gardner
Jaden Smith – Christopher (as Jaden Christopher Syre Smith)
Thandie Newton – Linda
Brian Howe – Jay Twistle
James Karen – Martin Frohm
Dan Castellaneta – Alan Frakesh
Kurt Fuller – Walter Ribbon
Takayo Fischer – Mrs. Chu
Kevin West – World's Greatest Dad
George Cheung – Chinese Maintenance Worker (as George K. Cheung)
Music: Andrea Guerra
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"The Pursuit of Happiness" is the biography of a real guy namedChristopher Gardner, whom Will Smith, charming and bright, embodies tothe fingertips. As the film has it, Chris is (a) extremely likable, (b)a whiz with numbers and (c) a total loser. And why is Chris a loser?Well, wanting his piece of the dream and trusting in his salesmanship,he has invested in bone scanners about the size of a sewing machine andtrundles about the San Francisco area (it's the early 1980s) trying tosell them to physicians. The lack of success is grinding him down,down, down; he's not moving a single unit. The rent is due. He's behindin all his other payments. His wife (Thandie Newton) has left him, hehas been kicked out of his apartment and he's on the streets — withhis son. That's what makes it all the more painful to watch: The proudman who had dreamed for so much is humiliated not merely by his failurebut by the fear and pain it inflicts on his son (played beautifully bySmith's own son Jaden). So "The Pursuit of Happiness" is basically anaccount of Chris's ordeal by internship. On a whim, he walks into theSan Francisco Dean Witter office and learns that every six months, thefancy brokerage takes on 20-odd interns for a six-month trainingperiod, salary $0.00. At the end of it, the guys in the suits may ormay not hire one survivor. Chris decides he will be that one.
We are not used to seeing Will Smith playing the father taking care ofhis son alone. Especially in his world under Reagan. He lost his wife,then his apartment, then a second apartment, then he had to go tohomeless people's shelters, with his son mind you, sleep in BARTtoilets, with his son mind you, work like hell to get a new professionin the world of finance, go on selling some of the medical machines hewas selling before to just make ends meet, to avoid the worst possible,losing his child, his son. And he manages to keep his cool, to remainfriendly with everyone, even those who obviously exploit him, and heproves himself and he gets the job, one out of twenty. The whole filmis dominated by a quotation from the Declaration of Independence, the"pursuit of happiness". And this pursuit is a real chase but a chasethat does not so much take place outside, because outside it is a huntnot for happiness but for the game that is homeless, defenseless, outof luck and deprived of the minimum. But the chase, and the pursuit, isin one's mind first and foremost. If you are not free in your mind, ifyou have no project and if you do not have the motivation and thedetermination to get it going, you will not overcome the difficultieslife will bring. Though I think this is true for everyone, thatmotivation and determination are the basic qualities you need to getanywhere in life, the end result will be quite different and vary a lotaccording to the point where you started and the opportunities thatwill come along across your own path and that you will be able tocatch. We definitely are equal potentially, but the end results ofpeople in their lives vary tremendously and then at this point equalityis no longer the main characteristic. That makes the film slightly sad.For one financial success, how many meager survivals? Dr JacquesCOULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University VersaillesSaint Quentin en Yvelines, CEGID
How could you not post a TEN (10)!
To this awesome movie?? One of the best movies ever
Will Smith, isreally one of the best actors, and his son asswell. Great movie 10 /10! Reminds me of my life, appreciate for what you have, and try to gobeyond your capability, never ever give up and one day you will haveeverything for what you imagined. Your biggest Goal should be to followyour dream and give up for nothing else expect for your dream! Themovie is really heartbraking, at some parts you can really cry, im notkidding. Wills Smiths kid is really funny he's a great actor just likehis father, it was a brilliant idea to make a movie with two familymembers in it. I like the idea that it is based on a true storie, butmy question is, 'is that true'? But i will say it again Brilliant movieto watch. I would recommend it to all people.!!
This movie is propaganda just like seven pounds! Even though people sayit is a true story I am sure it has many distortions to support themessage of greed. This movie is basically saying from the beginningthat money equates to happiness. I mean Will Smith walks by and he seesa bourgeoisie stock broker and he says that person is so happy I wantto be like him and then they show how it is apparently so sad to livein poverty in America. Well this movie is not true because money doesnot equate to happiness people are happy in Bangladesh, India, andNepal even when they are really poor. People in America have moresuicides then in any other place.
It is obvious if you watch this movie closely that it has the messageof equating wealth with happiness. Well why didn't Chris Gardner justget a real job instead? There are plenty of jobs out there other thenstock broker that he could of got six months earlier or that he couldof gotten instead of trying to sell those scanners he invested himselfin.
A stock broker is not a real job – a stock broker is somebody whoprofesses in "buying and selling shares through the stock market" whichis basically another way of saying I steal money from the people who doreal work well I sit back and live off of their efforts. When I sayreal work I mean the people who are mining ores out of the mountains,doing construction, farming, engineering products, etc. Stock brokerssteal money from those workers who are treated poorly. Do you how manyhomeless people would be off the streets right now if Chris Gardnerwould give up just a small portion of his 165 million dollars? I meanthere is no reason he needs more then one million dollars to supporthimself and a large family.
One thing someone is seriously going to have to explain to me though iswhy the heck did he keep selling people those scanners if he knew hewas ripping people off and it wasn't working very well? He should haveput his sales work aside and get a real job I mean there are thousandsof them available. I am sorry but I have no reason to give this morethen a 1/10.
The Pursuit Of Happiness was much better than expected mainly becauseof the great performance by Will Smith who continues to show his talentas an actor in this film. Director Gabriele Muccino has done anadmirable job of making this movie based on an inspiring true storyabout a struggling salesman who tries to find a steady job so that hecan support him and his son after losing nearly everything but finds achance to get his life back on track with a stockbroker internship atDean Witter. Will Smith is fantastic as Chris Gardner the strugglingsalesman giving one of his best performances in this film. Smithcontinues to show why he's one of Hollywoods best actors today in thisone. Well done. Will's real life son Jaden steps into the role of hison screen son Chris Jr. and he is equally impressive. They both havegreat chemistry together and because they are rally father and son theydidn't have to try hard to make that believable in the movie. The restof the cast are good in their roles. Thandie Newton makes a briefextended appearance as Chris' wife who leaves him. Newton may lackscreen time but she's still effective in the role. The pacing for themovie was a little slow at times but it does offer some humor, drama,and a touching story about the bond between a father and his son whichmakes up for it's one flaw. Overall The Pursuite Of Happiness was muchbetter than I thought it would be. The movie has drama, some smalldoses of humor, characters we come to care about, and terrificperformances by the cast especially Will Smith who makes this inspiringtrue story enjoyable to watch.