The role needs gravity, smarts, charm, humor and a soul that's not synthetic. Smith brings it. He's the real deal.
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
Top CriticThankfully, humor leavens the dark journey, and little Jaden and his jokes go a long way to warm our hearts.
12/14/06
Smith is resourceful in the role, though the story stretches one's credulity about his character's resourcefulness.
12/14/06
Top CriticThe Pursuit of Happyness goes beyond tugging at our heartstrings. It plucks them, strokes them, strums them, plays them for all they're worth. That's both the strength and the weakness of this inspirational drama.
12/14/06
Top CriticHeartwarming at times, heartbreaking at others, you could do far worse this season than this touching tale.
12/14/06
Smith hasn't delivered this kind of earnest, emotionally raw performance since Ali, and his Chris Gardner is every bit as complex.
12/14/06
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
A fairy tale in realist drag, The Pursuit of Happyness is the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw.
12/14/06
The Pursuit of Happyness is the biography of a real guy named Christopher Gardner, whom Will Smith, charming and bright, embodies to the fingertips.
12/14/06
Top CriticIt's almost impossible to watch this movie and not, on some level beyond reason, succumb. The Pursuit of Happyness is an expert piece of calculation: a male weepie engineered for the whole family.
12/14/06
Sad, sappy and rarely believable, it's a tedious tearjerker.
12/14/06
[An] honorable but dogged effort.
12/14/06
Top CriticWinter's coming in hard, but this season's leading cause of the sniffles is going to be The Pursuit of Happyness, a viral blast of the American Dream. It's Rocky with a briefcase.
12/14/06
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
A moving and heartfelt character-based drama with an unsentimental tone that makes the machinations of the plot all the more urgent and effective.
12/14/06
The most touching drama of this not-very-touching holiday movie season.
12/14/06
Smith is terrific and moving in this film. The film itself is more conventional. Yet it's better-crafted and less obviously ruthless in the pathos department than you'd expect.
12/14/06
Top CriticThis optimistic, rags-to-riches, father/son relationship story becomes a heartwarming, inspirational holiday fable.
12/14/06
Only a total Scrooge wouldn't feel good at the end of the movie, but The Pursuit of Happyness merely trudges through a lot of downs on its way to the big, rewarding finale.
12/14/06
It's more interested in the concrete details of Chris Gardner's life: finding a place to sleep, trying to stay upbeat, trying to keep his co-workers from finding out how close he is to living in a box. Which is why it's so powerful at the end.
12/14/06
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