Review: The Pursuit of Happyness

UK release date: 12th January

Will Smith reins in his customary exuberance to deliver a beautifully understated performance as real-life San Francisco father Chris Gardner, who, in the 1980s, battled against astonishing adversity to achieve his American dream. When his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) leaves him, Gardner takes custody of their five-year-old child (played by Smith’s delightful real-life son, Jaden) and then faces a catalogue of disasters as they become homeless and he tries to pursue a new career.

Smith’s restraint works wonderfully here and he makes every facial flicker count. Yet while Gardner’s spirits surprisingly never droop despite his tribulations, the same cannot be said for those watching this noble rags-to-riches drama. The overall message may be a positive one, but it’s agonising to watch such a decent man suffer, with Italian director Gabriele Muccino (The Last Kiss) seemingly determined to keep his English language debut as unsentimental as possible. Ultimately the film is expertly constructed with faultless central turns, but it would have benefited from being more uplifting.

Radio Times rating:

***

UK cinema certificate 12A
Running time 117mins

Review by Sloan Freer

News: Will Smith

After doing his serious, heavy-hitting bit again in this week’s The Pursuit of Happyness (which has got him various award nominations – including for the Golden Globes, often an indicator of Oscar nominations to come), the Fresh Prince will soon be returning to the sort of territory for which we all know and love him.

We’ll have to wait a while though – his next movie isn’t due out in the UK until December. It does, however, promise to be a return to his sci-fi and action-packed best, as he plays the last man alive, desperately battling off the rest of the Earth’s bloodthirsty inhabitants, in I Am Legend. After that, 2008 will see Smith return to comedy, first playing a superhero who’s fallen out of favour with the public in Tonight, He Comes, before teaming up with Nic Cage for Time Share – a comedy about two fathers desperately trying to secure the rights to a holiday home for their families. The latter doesn’t sound overly promising, it must be said, but still – I Am Legend could be good, brainless fun.