The Pursuit of Happyness
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
What critics thought
Critics were broadly split not on Will Smith — whose performance drew near-universal admiration — but on the film around him, which many found earnest to a fault and politically convenient in its portrait of poverty as a problem solved by individual grit. The real fault line was whether Smith's warmth was enough to redeem a story critics variously called formulaic, slight, and heavy-handed with coincidence and sentiment.
“The great surprise of the picture is that it's not corny ... The beauty of the film is its honesty. In its outlines, it's nothing like the usual success story depicted on-screen, in which, after a reasonable interval of disappointment, success arrives wrapped in a ribbon and a bow.”
Mick LaSalle·San Francisco Chronicle
“the film lays so many obstacles and solutions before its resilient hero that the volume of sentimentality and coincidence makes it feel suspect ... Neither Conrad's script nor Muccino's redundant direction shows [what] lifted the real-life Chris above better educated and more experienced candidates, but it comes through in the earnest performances of the two Smiths.”
Steve Persall·St. Petersburg Times
Accolades
Genres
Biography, Drama
Cast & Crew
Gabriele MuccinoDirector
Will SmithChris Gardner
Jaden SmithChristopher
Thandiwe NewtonLinda
Brian HoweJay Twistle
James KarenMartin Frohm
Dan CastellanetaAlan Frakesh
Kurt FullerWalter Ribbon
Takayo FischerMrs. Chu
Kevin WestWorld's Greatest Dad
George CheungChinese Maintenance Worker
Andrea GuerraComposer
Steven ConradWriter
Phedon PapamichaelCinematographyThe Pursuit of Happyness
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
What critics thought
Critics were broadly split not on Will Smith — whose performance drew near-universal admiration — but on the film around him, which many found earnest to a fault and politically convenient in its portrait of poverty as a problem solved by individual grit. The real fault line was whether Smith's warmth was enough to redeem a story critics variously called formulaic, slight, and heavy-handed with coincidence and sentiment.
“The great surprise of the picture is that it's not corny ... The beauty of the film is its honesty. In its outlines, it's nothing like the usual success story depicted on-screen, in which, after a reasonable interval of disappointment, success arrives wrapped in a ribbon and a bow.”
Mick LaSalle·San Francisco Chronicle
“the film lays so many obstacles and solutions before its resilient hero that the volume of sentimentality and coincidence makes it feel suspect ... Neither Conrad's script nor Muccino's redundant direction shows [what] lifted the real-life Chris above better educated and more experienced candidates, but it comes through in the earnest performances of the two Smiths.”
Steve Persall·St. Petersburg Times
Accolades
Genres
Biography, Drama
Cast & Crew
Gabriele MuccinoDirectorWill SmithChris GardnerJaden SmithChristopherThandiwe NewtonLindaBrian HoweJay TwistleJames KarenMartin FrohmDan CastellanetaAlan FrakeshKurt FullerWalter RibbonTakayo FischerMrs. ChuKevin WestWorld's Greatest DadGeorge CheungChinese Maintenance WorkerAndrea GuerraComposerSteven ConradWriterPhedon PapamichaelCinematography