For me, this was a painfully difficult film to watch. Anyone who has ever reached bottom, faced poverty, gone through divorce, or had to rely on charity may feel the same way, too. Chris’s struggles to sell his product and impress the power brokers at Dean-Witter also gave me pause. I could feel the life being crushed out of him by the system. But he perseveres and prevails. The movie is a testament to one man’s will power, and to Will Smiith as an actor. His son gave a remarkable performance, too.

yesyes, incredible performances, and even though you knew the end from the beginning, i still liked the journey. he is presented as very human, not some inspiring beacon of hope. he’s just a guy trying to make it, and yells and his kid and does some bad things and makes bad decisions, such as the initial investment that put them into financial hardship to begin with. at the end, even though i kind of told myself i wasnt going to, i was just there with the guy, crying. not a lot, but there were definitely a few. its just a good story.

I’ve heard good things about this film, so I finally decided to watch it. Will Smith and his son Jaden did an amazing job – the acting was great. Jaden’s little jokes were cute as well. However, I did end up feeling very attached to this film. I’m a very sentimental person, especially when it comes to movies, yet I wasn’t even near teary-eyed watching this. The ending was predictable. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’ve seen/read similar situations and such in my Social Justice class that didn’t end up so predictable. In my opinion, some parts were interesting and I don’t think it’s a bad film. Hah, I kept wondering why he couldn’t get an extra job or something beforehand.

I’ve liked films with much cheesier endings and such, so I guess i just had high expectations and was disappointed.

I saw an interview with Chris Gardner on television a few months ago and he seemed like a fascinating person. The Pursuit of Happyness is, unfortunately, not as fascinating. Will Smith does an incredible job; his performance is emotional and nuanced, and he does a good job of making the audience feel sympathy for his character. But I found myself let down by this “inspirational” film: it just meandered along, and by the end I wasn’t uplifted or inspired, only barely satisfied. Will Smith is good, as is his son Jaden, but they were good performances in a just acceptable movie.

Benjamin bought a copy of this DVD at Starbucks on Sunday because he knew I wanted to see it and that I needed an uplifting movie on Sunday to prepare me for a big week. We watched it Sunday night and enjoyed it. I can’t say it’s one of the greats, but still it was worthwhile.

E and I watched this movie last night and we just loved it!

What a great and motivating movie.

Loved the Rubics Cube in it too. We have Rubics Cubes hanging around our house and we enjoy messing with them. E doesn’t believe me when I say I was able to solve them as a kid. I swore I could… but now I’m doubting myself. Do any of you remember seeing me solve it?

If not were you able to solve it… therefore making it possible that I could have solved it, too?