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The Pursuit of Happyness (Widescreen Edition) 
Actors : Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen
Director : Gabriele Muccino
Studio : Sony Pictures
by Sony Pictures
Brand : Sony
Release Date : 2007-03-27
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0043396150850
UPC : 043396150850
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 275 reviews)
List Price : $19.94
Our Price : $5.93
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Product Description |
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A real-life tale of survival over life's toughest challenges. After a chain of circumstances left Gardner jobless and homeless at age 30 he found himself and his baby son living in a bathroom at a San Francisco train station. Despite the negative situation Gardner continued to fight toward his goal of becoming a broker eventually landing a job as a trainee and rising through the ranks at such companies as Dean Witter and Bear Stearns to his current standing -- partner and owner of the Chicago-based minority brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co. and self-made millionaire.Features:Documentaries (Making-of documentary)Featurette (Father and Son: On Screen and Off)Interview(s) (The Man Behind the Movie: A Conversation with Chris Gardner)Audio commentary (with director Gabriel Muccino)System Requirements:Runtime: 117 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 043396150850 Manufacturer No: 15085 |
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Americancivilwar.com |
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A heartwarming film that demonstrates how good, hard-working people can become homeless almost overnight, Pursuit of Happyness is a tour-de-force showcase for Will Smith, who convincingly portrays a down-and-out dad trying to better his family's life. Smith, who usually is cast in effortlessly boyish roles (Men in Black, Independence Day), is wonderful in the film--even in the scenes that shamelessly tug at viewers' heartstrings. Based on the true-life story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman forced at times to shelter his young son (played by Smith's adorable look-alike offspring Jaden Smith) in a men's room, there is little suspense to the film in terms of Chris' outcome. (His story and eventual success a successful and wealthy Chicago businessman was well-publicized on the newsmagazine show 20/20.) And let's face it, Hollywood's not too keen on making feel-good movies with unhappy endings. The beauty (and suspense, to a certain extent) of this film is in the way the story is told. Though he is constantly rushing around to get to appointments and pick up his child, things do not happen quickly for Chris. When he accepts an internship with a prestigious stock brokerage firm, there's a catch: The position is unpaid, suitable more for trust-fund children than single parents with no other source of income. In many scenes, the viewer panics along with Chris, wondering how he's going to feed his child. While Smith and his son, Jaden, share many tender moments together, Thandie Newton has the thankless role of playing Chris' shrill wife, who deserts her family early in the film. It's not a particularly challenging part for the talented actress, and her departure doesn't impact the storyline much at all. As for the movie's misspelled title, it's inspired from a scene in the film. (Seeing a mural drawn by the children at a daycare center, Chris points out to the proprietor that "happiness" is spelled incorrectly. She notes that it doesn't matter how the word is written--just that the kids have it.) With Pursuit of Happyness, Smith has come out of his safety zone and, in turn, ends up playing his most heroic role to date. --Jae-Ha Kim
Extras from The Pursuit of Happyness 
Behind the scenes footage of
The Pursuit of Happyness
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Chris Gardner:
"On Being Studied By Will Smith"
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Will Smith And Jaden Smith: "On Will Always Being In Character"
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Beyond The Pursuit of Happyness on Americancivilwar.com 
More Films Starring Will Smith | 
More Films About Fathers & Sons | 
The Book |
Stills from The Pursuit of Happyness (click for larger image) |
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excellent movie |
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my mom and I watch this movie on mother's day and we enjoy it.There were times when I wanted to cry but couldnt. Both will smith and his adorable son Jaden should had got an oscar.Im going to add this movie to my collection. |
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Fantastic! |
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This item shipped immediately, thus was received quickly. Also the movie is as described! Great price, great shipping, great description, great company!!! |
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Liked the movie, not the message |
As cinema, this is solid work. Smith has a great performance, his son is adorable, it's steady on the ups and downs and does a good job of conveying hardship and inspiring the person who's watching it.
The message is another story. This is a movie that at several points takes shots at government intervention and regulation, that praises hard work ethic, determination and talent as the gateway to wealth (which itself is the key to happiness in this story). It tries to reinforce the notion that poverty is the failure of the individual, and affluence conversely the triumph of it. It's no doubt a seductive message to the upper-middle class white people who make up this movie's intended audience.
Gardner's real story is a bit different. He was hired into the firm because of affirmative action, and his son was found badly neglected and covered in bruises. He had to sacrifice a lot and needed government help to get his foot in the door in order to bootstrap himself. The Gardner we see in the movie, on the other hand, is the "bootstrap king" to Reagan's "welfare queen", a grotesquely exaggerated caricature which masks the hidden complexities of poverty and welfare. It's to Smith's credit, then, that he is able to humanize this caricature, and to give it life and charm.
When confronted with good entertainment with a layer of deceptive morality on top of it, it's best to enjoy the entertainment and ignore the morality. My verdict: worth watching.
3/5 |
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The pursuit of happyness |
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This was an excellent movie and Will was able to expose his son to this lifestyle and help him to understand that people do get down but it is what you do while you are down that makes the difference. |
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Pursuit... Yes |
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Those who have written reviews for this movie of anything less than 5 stars have NO idea what it means to be lower than low, at the absolute bottom with no visible way out. You see, in order to understand the struggle, you have to have LIVED it. I understand this movie because I HAVE lived it. Some other review cited that it took far too long to display the epic struggle that left us no time to relish the moment of success. I submit that were it not for the INTENSE struggle he faced, there would BE no reason to celebrate his ultimate success. It would have less meaning. I have NEVER cried so hard as I did at the end of this movie. During the course of the film, you FEEL his pain of wanting to be just that little bit more than what he felt himself to be. You yearn for him to experience that one bit of happiness to know that he doesn't HAVE to sell his blood anymore to make a few bucks to be able to fix a light in a bone density scanner he sells to provide a meal and a place to live for a few weeks for himself and his son. This man went through more tribulations than any of the other reviewers here have seen in their own lives or the family and friends that surround them. If you want to see a film that TRULY lifts you up by the climax, see the pursuit of happyness, and IGNORE the many discouraging reviews from people who have no clear understanding of personal anguish and eventual triumph. Will Smith would be hard pressed to ever again be handed a script for a more heart wrenching and satisfying movie. 5 stars +++ |
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