The Pursuit of Happyness

The fact-inspired drama "The Pursuit of Happyness" is more inspirational than creatively inspired -- imbued with the kind of uplifting, afterschool-special qualities that can trigger a major toothache. Clearly savoring the chance to work alongside his moppet son, Will Smith is in serious mode as Chris Gardner, whose story is one of perseverance overcoming tremendous hardship. Smith's heartfelt performance is easy to admire. But the movie's painfully earnest tone should skew its appeal to the portion of the audience that, admittedly, has catapulted many cloying TV movies into hits, and an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey on her popular talkshow can't hurt.

Abandoned by his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) and kicked out of his house, Chris wanders the streets of San Francisco worrying about how he is going to feed his five-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith).

A potential solution presents itself in the form of an unpaid six-month internship at a top-notch stock brokerage firm. Fully determined, Chris sucks up all of his fears and throws himself into a strenuous battle against 19 other candidates up for the sole free position.

Throughout, The Pursuit of Happyness manages to be downbeat, without feeling corny. Will Smith, whose phenomenal role as Chris Gardner earned him an Oscar nomination, does a remarkable job at capturing the true emotions of a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to overcome life's hurdles and protect his child. He shares a wonderful chemistry with his real-life son Jaden on the screen, and crafts unique moments of utter sorrow as in a scene where Chris has to spend the night in a public bathroom.

Strictly in political terms, the film could hardly be more finely tuned -- offering a sympathetic view of those struggling to stay out of poverty as well as a "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" message. And in that calculation resides its basic flaw -- a nagging sense throughout that we're being emotionally played.

Deriving its title from a misspelling at the San Francisco daycare center where Gardner parks his son, the narrative unfolds in 1981 as the protagonist's voiceover narration identifies various chapters in his life. At its core, there's a grand sense of the American dream in Gardner's rags-to-riches experience -- a guy who found himself homeless and sleeping in subway stations, only to become a multimillionaire. "The Pursuit of Happyness" devotes its two hours entirely to that struggle, wrenching as it often is.

Gardner states at the outset that he didn't know his own father and was determined not to let that happen with his own children. Unfortunately, he squanders his savings investing in a medical gizmo, driving a wedge between him and his wife (Thandie Newton), who eventually takes flight.

At that point, the film becomes a bit of "Kramer vs. Kramer" meets "Homeless to Harvard," as single dad Chris endeavors to keep himself and his 5-year-old son, Christopher (Jaden Christopher Syre Smith), afloat financially while pursuing a tantalizing but maddening opportunity: an unpaid internship at brokerage firm Dean Witter ...