The Pursuit of Happyness **1/2
Cast: Will Smith, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Running Length: 1:57
MPAA Classification: PG-13

Down on his luck Chris Gardner (Smith) sells bone density scanners to local hospitals and doctors in 1981 in San Francisco. His wife Linda (Newton) is unpleasant and demanding. His son, Christopher, is a happy kid, but is effected by his parents’ disharmony. Soon, Linda leaves him and he is evicted from his home. He has little money, and his hopes lie with an internship program at Dean Witter. He is the least likely of the bunch to succeed in the class until he amazes the program head by solving his Rubik’s Cube. He enters the program and struggles to do that as well as sell his scanners and raise his kid.

This is your standard rags to riches story. With an emphasis on the rags part. “The Pursuit of Happyness” is pretty much a downer for 90 minutes as Chris must deal with everything that is thrown at him. Will Smith does a good job making Chris feel like a real person. He is not perfect, but he tries really hard, and that makes him easy to like. His real life son Jayden is also good as Christopher. This is an OK movie with a good performance by Smith that may benefit him come Oscar time. If you are looking for an inspiring movie, this may fill that need.