What ultimately keeps Happyness on track is Will Smith's perfectly pitched performance.
Comment
12/14/06
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
66
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:165
Fresh:109
Rotten:56
Average Rating:6.4/10
Consensus: Will Smith’s heartfelt performance elevates The Pursuit of Happyness above mere melodrama.
Theatrical Release:Dec 15, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $162,586,036
Synopsis: In The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) is a family man struggling to make ends meet. Despite his valiant attempts to help keep the family afloat, the mother (Thandie Newton) of his... [More]
Starring: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Dan Castellaneta, Thandie Newton
Director: Gabriele Muccino
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Reviews for The Pursuit of Happyness
[Muccino] is quite skilled at hitting all the appropriate emotional peaks and valleys, though his hard logic leaves a bit to be desired.
12/14/06
[An] honorable but dogged effort.
12/14/06
Top CriticA string of annoyances that no doubt riddled the real life of Chris Gardner, but when put in a Hollywood film, feel quite set up like dominos that fall with cliché timing.
12/21/06
Deserves kudos for avoiding saccharine sentiment, but its relentless emphasis on money as the cure for all ills is depressing. They might as well have called it The Pursuit of Richyness.
01/14/07
It's a solid vehicle for Smith, tailored to his personality and strengths as a star, and fueled by his utter conviction.
12/14/06
Makes you work for its climax if not its message.
12/13/06
In his first English-language feature, Muccino plays it disappointingly safe, leaving creativity by the wayside and adopting a conservative by-the-numbers style. The result is terribly maudlin and predictable.
12/14/06
Guitar-strumming hippie chicks, homeless nutcases, Chinese-speaking day care operators and non-Smith black folks -- bad; rich white stock brokers with box seats at 49ers games -- good.
12/15/06
Gardner's fight is everyman's fight... to remain true to his material objectives without sacrificing that which really matters to him-- his trusting little shadow.
01/06/07
How is it that movies 'inspired by a real story' often feel more fake than those fully embedded in the realm of fiction?
12/14/06
Top CriticThe whole thing works. This earnest, modest, sweet little ode to paternal love is meant to warm the cockles of our hearts in a season overrun with cockle-warming, and even a recalcitrant Scrooge may sniff back a few salty droplets.
12/15/06
Top CriticAn old-fashioned Hollywood heartwarmer.
01/12/07
This is the saddest Will Smith movie I've ever seen. But the worser it gets the more you know how it'll come out at the end.
12/06/06
I really liked this film. But don't forget to bring the hankies.
12/16/06
The picture is skilled enough to generate some genuine pathos to go along with the more calculated melodramatics.
12/23/06
A hard-pressed African-American single parent and his five-year old son struggle to survive and fulfill the American dream in San Francisco in 1981.
12/14/06
It's a fine film, with a portrait of fatherhood that feels scuffed and driven and real.
12/15/06
Top CriticIf you’ve seen the schlocky trailer for The Pursuit of Happyness, you’ve seen a better version of the actual film.
12/14/06
Few on-screen father-son relationships have felt more authentic than that depicted by Will Smith and his real-life son in The Pursuit of Happyness.
12/15/06
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