p r e f e r r e d r e v i e w e r s :
 |
 |
|
You haven't selected any preferred reviewers. To learn more about customizing your experience, click here.
|
|
|
 |
 |
o t h e r r e v i e w e r s :
|
|
|
Dancing_P [ 6.5 ]
[ add to preferred ]
[ email this review to a friend ]
This is one of the biggest surprises I've had in a while. My second-most reviled trailer in recent memory (after the cell-killing Quebec actioner Nitro), this smelled like soulless Oscar grab bullshit for miles and miles. I can't quite describe the thought process that led me to watch something that I was so obviously dreading (I guess it has something to do with facing your demons and such) but I did and, guess what? As far as manipulative, Oscar-baiting, three-hanky weepers go, this is pretty solid.
Chris Gardener (Will Smith) is an overworked bone-density scanner salesman. He purchased hundreds of the things on a whim only to find out that no one wants to buy the damn things. This outs an obvious strain on his relationship with his wife (Thandie Newton), who soon leaves him and their five-year-old son (Jaden Smith). Their already precarious financial situation topples over entirely; forced to find another job, Chris applies for an internship at a brokerage firm. A job, it turns out, that's unpaid.
You figure out about 15 minutes in that it's not one of those movies that'll spring a third-act tragedy on you; at it's very worse, it's like a particularly straightforward article from Reader's Digest. Pursuit of Happyness' saving grace is really that, in the movie world, its tragedies are decidedly small-scale. Sure, it's terrible for a small to be homeless... but he inhabits the movie world, where cancer and gangland shootings are also handy plot elements. Pursuit of Happyness' mawk is remains entirely manageable throughout; it's never as over-the-top as I'd imagined it while graoning through the trailer. Ultimately, it's a big forgettable (already my memories of it are beginning to mesh with those of Kramer vs. Kramer, with which is shares many similarities) but not realy as bad as it looks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
chapter11 [ 7.0 ]
[ add to preferred ]
[ email this review to a friend ]
Can you criticize a based-on-a-true-story movie for being predictable? Either way, as DokBrowne stated, "The Pursuit of Happyness" wields no surprises. Its trump card is clearly Will Smith, an always-likable presence who has waltzed into the "can pull off dramatic roles" club with his perf in "Happyness", and he walks away with the movie effortlessly. I suppose it's difficult to get emotionally invested in a character who we all know goes on to kick life's ass in a major sort of way, and it's to Smith's credit that he manages this anyhow. A wholly worthwhile, if uneventful, flick.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
astrosheil [ 7.0 ]
[ add to preferred ]
[ email this review to a friend ]
This is an inspiring and true story of a man who was determined to provide a home for his child. A salesman struggling to make a living, he decides to intern as a stockbroker. Will Smith and his son Jaden shine as the father and son who want a better life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DokBrowne [ 8.0 ]
[ add to preferred ]
[ email this review to a friend ]
I think anyone can figure out their reaction to this movie based solely on the trailer. It looked like an inspirational, heart-tugging, well-acted mainstream underdog tale with a predictable outcome and cliched writing that would be surmounted by the sheer sincerity with which it's all presented, and that's just what I got. It's a very good movie, for its kind, Will Smith is wonderful, and it should be used as a teaching tool for children and adults alike.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Weighted Rating | : 7.1 |
| No. Ratings | : 7 | |
| No. Reviews | : 4 | |
|
|
|
|