This is Smith as you've never seen him -- an unsure, struggling, frustrated guy trying to hold together his family and failing.
Comment
12/30/06
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
65
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:37
Fresh:24
Rotten:13
Average Rating:6.1/10
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
Top CriticAs cynical as I am, I have to admit I was completely won over by Smith’s sincere and deeply effective work as a guy who was knocked down again and again, but refused to stay on the canvas.
12/18/06
Top CriticSome people will see The Pursuit of Happyness as a glorification of capitalism, but the movie is much less about 'getting' than it is about 'not having.'
12/15/06
Top CriticThe Pursuit of Happyness can't imagine anything worse than being poor. Except maybe being surrounded by poor people.
12/15/06
Top CriticWill Smith has the right quality for the role -- he's an easy man to root for -- but he augments this by channeling some inner quality of desperation and need.
12/15/06
Top CriticA movie star who can slip easily into high-beam mode, Smith gives a restrained and nuanced turn.
12/15/06
Top CriticHonest tears, honestly earned, is the credo and it's practiced here.
12/15/06
Top CriticSmith may be the closest Hollywood has to a modern Cary Grant, an instantly likable actor comfortable in every role he attempts.
12/15/06
Top CriticThere are worse ways to spend the holidays, and, at the least, it will likely make you appreciate your own circumstances.
12/15/06
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 CriticFor an expensive, mainstream Hollywood movie, The Pursuit of Happyness is crisscrossed with mixed motives.
12/15/06
Top CriticThe Pursuit of Happyness attempts to be a warm movie with a good message. But its message is substantially skewed and the resulting warmth factor is decidedly low.
12/15/06
Top CriticThe subject of The Pursuit of Happyness denies all the odds and refuses to quit, and this movie has the same fighting, American spirit.
12/15/06
Top CriticI left the movie thinking that a whole lot of folks in Gardner's situation can't do what he did. They can't break the cycle of poverty. They never get off the street. But this is the story of one man who made it, and Smith does him justice.
12/15/06
Top CriticPursuit of Happyness isn't just a balm intended to heal negative depictions of AWOL African-American fathers. The movie pays respect to all single parents striving to do the right thing with few resources.
12/15/06
Top CriticFew 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
Top CriticIt's a fine film, with a portrait of fatherhood that feels scuffed and driven and real.
12/15/06
Top CriticThe role needs gravity, smarts, charm, humor and a soul that's not synthetic. Smith brings it. He's the real deal.
12/14/06
Top CriticThankfully, humor leavens the dark journey, and little Jaden and his jokes go a long way to warm our hearts.
12/14/06
Top CriticSmith is resourceful in the role, though the story stretches one's credulity about his character's resourcefulness.
12/14/06
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