The Pursuit of Happyness

Infobox Film
name = The Pursuit of Happyness
caption = Original poster


director = Gabriele Muccino
producer = Will Smith
Steve Tisch
James Lassiter
Todd Black
Jason Blumenthal
writer = Steven Conrad
narrator =
starring = Will Smith
Jaden Smith
Thandie Newton
music = Andrea Guerra
cinematography = Phedon Papamichael
editing = Hughes Winborne
distributor = Columbia Pictures
released = December 15, 2006 USA
January 12, 2007 UK
runtime = 109 minutes
country = United States
location = San Francisco
language = English
budget = $55 million
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness/index.html
amg_id = 1:326489
imdb_id = 0454921

"The Pursuit of Happyness" is a 2006 American biographical film directed by Gabriele Muccino about the on and off-homeless salesman-turned-stockbroker Chris Gardner. The screenplay by Steven Conrad is based on the best-selling memoir of the same name written by Chris Gardner with Quincy Troupe. The title is intentionally misspelled as a scene in the film shows a misspelling also. The film was released on December 15, 2006 by Columbia Pictures.

Plot synopsis

The film begins in 1981 in San Francisco, California. Linda and Chris Gardner live in a small apartment with their son, Christopher. Chris has invested the family's life savings in a franchise selling portable bone density scanners. These scanners provide slightly denser pictures than X-rays, but most of the doctors Chris visits find that they are too high-priced. Linda works in a dead-end job in a local hotel laundry. The tension between them mounts as unpaid rent and bills continue to accumulate. Chris often parks his car in disallowed areas so he can make scheduled appointments on time, and after parking tickets remain unpaid, their car is impounded. After missing a shift at her job, Linda finally leaves with their son Christopher, returns briefly, then departs for New York City, where a better job awaits her, leaving behind the boy at his father's request.

Chris accepts an unpaid internship at brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds that promises employment to only one trainee at its conclusion. His lack of salary, and his lack of scanners to try to sell, leaves him riddled with debt, and he and his son eventually become homeless. After spending several nights riding buses and sleeping in subway restrooms, saddled with their meager belongings, they begin lining up at the Glide Memorial Church on a daily basis in an effort to secure accommodations for the night. Sometimes they succeed, other times they literally are left out in the cold. As he struggles to provide a semblance of a family life for his son under the most dire of circumstances, Chris becomes more determined to complete the intern program and become the sole trainee the firm will hire.

In the end, Chris gets the job and later starts his own brokerage firm, called Gardner Rich, in 1987. Then in 2006 he sells a minority of it for a multi-million dollar deal.

Production notes

The film's title is derived from the words of Thomas Jefferson in the United States Declaration of Independence; the misspelling of "happiness" refers to a mural decorating the exterior of the son's day care center on which the word is spelled that way.

In "Making Pursuit: An Italian Take on the American Dream", a bonus feature on the film's DVD release, producer/actor Will Smith discusses how he came to consider Italian director Gabriele Muccino, whose grasp of the English language was minimal, to helm the project. He had been impressed with two of Muccino's films, "Ricordati di me" and "L'ultimo bacio", and arranged to meet him in Paris, where Smith was promoting "Hitch". Muccino observed that "Happyness" essentially was a story about achieving the American Dream, a concept understood better by foreigners than Americans themselves. His discussion about how he would approach the film's themes convinced Smith he was the right person for the task.

The real Christopher, Jr. was only a toddler during the time frame depicted in the film, but the script advanced his age to five-years-old to make filming scenes with the boy less problematic. Muccino auditioned hundreds of boys for the role before approaching Smith and asking him if he would consider allowing his son Jaden to play the part. "Father and Son: On Screen and Off", a DVD bonus feature, explores the working relationship the two enjoyed. Upon the film's completion, those involved agreed that the natural father-and-son bond between the two never could have been duplicated by Smith and a professional actor.

The real-life Chris Gardner suggested Cecil Williams, the pastor of Glide Memorial, be incorporated into a couple of scenes in the film. In "The Man Behind the Movie: A Conversation with Chris Gardner", another DVD bonus feature, he explains he felt it was a way to honor the man he credits with helping him survive one of the darkest periods in his life. Gardner himself makes a brief cameo appearance in the film's final scene, passing his screen self and son as they cross the street.

San Francisco filming locations included the Financial District, Chinatown, the Glen Park BART Station, Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, Golden Gate Park, The Transbay Terminal, and Candlestick Park.

The film's soundtrack includes "A Father's Way" by Seal, "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker, "This Masquerade" by George Benson, "Jesus Children of America" and "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder, "Morning, Morning" by Richie Havens, "Young Man" by Richard Dorfmeister, Peter Kruder, and Mose Allison, "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Roberta Flack, and "Lord, Don't Move That Mountain" by the Glide Ensemble.

Box office

The film debuted at #1 at the North American box office, earning $27 million during its opening weekend and beating out heavily promoted films such as "Eragon" and "Charlotte's Web". It was Will Smith's sixth consecutive #1 opening. The film grossed $162,586,036 in the US and Canada and a further $141,700,000 in other markets, for a total worldwide box office of $304,286,036. As of November 2007, US Region One DVD sales accounted for an additional $89,923,088 in revenue, slightly less than half of which was earned in its first week of release [ [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2006/PRHAP.php "The Pursuit of Happyness" at TheNumbers.com] ] .

Principal cast

*Will Smith ..... Chris Gardner
*Jaden Smith ..... Christopher Gardner Jr.
*Thandie Newton ..... Linda Gardner
*Brian Howe ..... Jay Twistle
*James Karen ..... Martin Frohm
*Dan Castellaneta ..... Alan Frakesh
*Kurt Fuller ..... Walter Ribbon
*Scott Klace ..... Tim Brophy

Critical reception

In the "San Francisco Chronicle", Mick LaSalle observed, "The great surprise of the picture is that it's not corny . . . The beauty of the film is its honesty. In its outlines, it's nothing like the usual success story depicted onscreen, in which, after a reasonable interval of disappointment, success arrives wrapped in a ribbon and a bow. Instead, this success story follows the pattern most common in life - it chronicles a series of soul-sickening failures and defeats, missed opportunities, sure things that didn't quite happen, all of which are accompanied by a concomitant accretion of barely perceptible victories that gradually amount to something. In other words, it all feels real." [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/15/DDGR7MV3611.DTL "San Francisco Chronicle" review] ]

Manohla Dargis of the "New York Times" called the film "a fairy tale in realist drag . . . the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw . . . It's the same old bootstraps story, an American dream artfully told, skillfully sold. To that calculated end, the filmmaking is seamless, unadorned, transparent, the better to serve Mr. Smith's warm expressiveness . . . How you respond to this man’s moving story may depend on whether you find Mr. Smith's and his son's performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/movies/15happ.html "New York Times" review] ]

Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" awarded the film three out of a possible four stars and commented, "Will Smith is on the march toward Oscar . . . [His] role needs gravity, smarts, charm, humor and a soul that's not synthetic. Smith brings it. He's the real deal." [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/7605317/review/12812265/the_pursuit_of_happyness "Rolling Stone" review] ]

In "Variety", Brian Lowry said the film "is more inspirational than creatively inspired -- imbued with the kind of uplifting, afterschool-special qualities that can trigger a major toothache . . . Smith's heartfelt performance is easy to admire. But the movie's painfully earnest tone should skew its appeal to the portion of the audience that, admittedly, has catapulted many cloying TV movies into hits . . . In the final accounting, [it] winds up being a little like the determined salesman Mr. Gardner himself: easy to root for, certainly, but not that much fun to spend time with." [ [http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_review/VE1117932267.html?nav=reviews07&categoryid=2352&cs=1&p=0 "Variety" review] ]

Kevin Crust of the "Los Angeles Times" stated, "Dramatically it lacks the layering of a "Kramer vs. Kramer", which it superficially resembles . . . Though the subject matter is serious, the film itself is rather slight, and it relies on the actor to give it any energy. Even in a more modest register, Smith is a very appealing leading man, and he makes Gardner's plight compelling . . . "The Pursuit of Happyness" is an unexceptional film with exceptional performances . . . There are worse ways to spend the holidays, and, at the least, it will likely make you appreciate your own circumstances." [ [http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-et-pursuit15dec15,0,1752143.story "Los Angeles Times" review] ]

In the "St. Petersburg Times", Steve Persall graded the film B- and added, " [It] is the obligatory feel-good drama of the holiday season and takes that responsibility a bit too seriously . . . the film lays so many obstacles and solutions before its resilient hero that the volume of sentimentality and coincidence makes it feel suspect . . . Neither Conrad's script nor Muccino's redundant direction shows [what] lifted the real-life Chris above better educated and more experienced candidates, but it comes through in the earnest performances of the two Smiths. Father Will seldom comes across this mature on screen; at the finale, he achieves a measure of Oscar-worthy emotion. Little Jaden is a chip off the old block, uncommonly at ease before the cameras. Their real-life bond is an inestimable asset to the onscreen characters' relationship, although Conrad never really tests it with any conflict." [ [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/14/Weekend/_Happyness__takes_it_.shtml "St. Petersburg Times" review] ]

Awards and nominations

*Academy Award for Best Actor (Will Smith, nominee)
*Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama (Will Smith, nominee)
*Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song ("A Father's Way," words and music by Seal)
*Black Reel Award for Best Film (nominee)
*Black Reel Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Will Smith, nominee)
*Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performer (Jaden Smith, nominee)
*NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Motion Picture (winner)
*NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture (Will Smith, nominee)
*NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Jaden Smith, nominee)
*NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Thandie Newton, nominee)
*Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture (Will Smith, nominee)
*MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance (Will Smith, nominee)
*MTV Movie Award for Best Male Breakthrough Performance (Jaden Smith, winner)
*Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (Will Smith, nominee)
*BFCA Critics' Choice Award for Best Young Actor (Jaden Smith, nominee)
*BET Award for Best Actor (Will Smith, nominee)
*PFCS Award for Best Performance by Youth in a Leading or Supporting Role - Male (Jaden Smith, winner)

References

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thepursuitofhappyness Official website]
* [http://www.chrisgardnermedia.com/index.htm Chris Gardner official website]
*imdb title|id=0454921|title=The Pursuit of Happyness
*rotten-tomatoes|id=pursuit_of_happyness|title=The Pursuit of Happyness
* [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/pursuitofhappyness "The Pursuit of Happyness" at Metacritic.com]

Box Office Leaders USA
before = "Apocalypto"
date = December 17
year = 2006
after = "Night at the Museum"