Summary:
The Pursuit of Happiness is based on the true story of Chris Gardner. It’s about a man who was struggling to support his family. He sells bone density machines to doctors. He doesn’t make much money at it. The bills are starting to pile up so he decides to take an internship as a stockbroker. The movie takes you on his journey to finding happiness.
Questions/Comments:
Will and Jaden were cute together.
For those of you who didn’t know, Will’s real life son played Christopher. I thought they worked really well together. They were so natural together it was as if they weren’t reading from a script. I wonder if this is how they act towards each other in real life. It was a refreshing change to see a father and son together onscreen actually caring about each other. Despite all of the trouble they were having in the film, they still loved each other.
Was the movie fair to Thandie Newton’s character?
Thandie Newton played Chris’s wife Linda in the movie. She was written up as being very unsupportive of Chris. She also seemed distant towards their son. She leaves Chris and Christopher because she wasn’t happy anymore. She initially takes Christopher with her, but Chris demands that he stay with him. She didn’t even fight him on it. It’s as if she didn’t even care about him anymore. Once she leaves for New York, she’s written out of the movie. We never even find out if she calls to check on Christopher. Here’s why I think the movie is unfair to Linda. Her reasons for leaving are never developed. The audience never sees what pushes her to the point that she wants to leave. She decides out of the blue that she is unhappy and leaves Chris. I’m curious as to whether she is as cold in real life as she appears in the movie.
I felt sorry for Chris and Christopher.
It seemed like everything was going wrong. He went through quite a few bad things in the movie. He was robbed a couple of times. He had to deal with being evicted. He was arrested. It’s hard not to feel sorry for someone who was going through all of that especially since he was working so hard to support himself and his son. I could have lost it when he was crying in the bathroom about the way his life was turning out. You’ll have to see this scene to know what I’m talking about. I even felt sorry for him when he stiffed a cab driver earlier in the film. I know he was wrong to do this, but I found myself rooting for him to get away from the cab driver.
Why didn’t Chris look for a better job?
Chris is written up to be an intelligent man so I don’t understand why he settled for a non-paying internship. He was flat broke so his decision made no sense to me. His only source of income was to sell the bone density machines. People weren’t really buying them that much or he wouldn’t have had to take the job. I don’t think he should have relied on this when he was raising a child. He took a risk taking the internship when there was no guarantee that he would have had a job when it was over.
Where was Chris getting money?
There were times in the movie when Chris is supposed to be broke yet he always had money in his wallet. He had money to keep his son in daycare. The daycare cost $150 a month. He also had money for them to keep eating out. He really knew how to make what little money he had stretch.
Maybe Chris should have called Linda.
When things were really bad for him and Christopher, maybe he should have called his wife and let her have their son until he got back on his feet. I know he loved his son, but he was having too much trouble supporting him. Luckily he didn’t end up losing his kid. In real life, he might have lost him.
Final thoughts:
I really enjoyed the movie. I thought the movie was well written and well acted. Will Smith gives an Oscar worthy performance in my opinion. I thought Jaden did a really good job considering this is his first movie. I also thought the other actors and actresses did a good job too.
