Saturday, December 16, 2006

movie minute

The Y to the I: Dreams do come true and it could happen to you could be the mantra of the new Will Smith movie The Pursuit Of Happyness (PG-13). The word happiness is misspelled on purpose; it's the sign on a wall outside of a daycare center. Will Smith plays Chris Gardner, a man struggling to support his family (a wife and 5-year-old son) by selling medical equipment. His wife is played by Thandie Newton and his son is played by Jaden Christopher Syre Smith (the real life son of Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith). As the bills mount and the pressure builds, Gardner learns of an internship program at Dean Witter and he devotes 6 months studying, schmoozing and trying to cram for a test that he might do well on and still not get the job. The real Chris Gardner went on to do great things but before that he and his son spent a year sleeping in subway terminal bathrooms and shelters. I have two problems with this movie: The first is Newton's character, Linda, and her interactions with Chris. The two are rarely civil to each other and the nastiness is just not appealing and doesn't seem to fit in. The second is the film's one-bad-thing-after-another-I-just-can't-catch-a-break theme. It gets to be a downer after a short while. The film doesn't have much to say and it says it a lot. Smith is being hailed for his role as an everyman trying to keep his head and family above water but he doesn't delve deep enough. And for a man who is supposed to be so intelligent, Smith's character spends a lot of time seemingly unaware of how the world works. There are great moments but there's not enough of them and, while I do agree he should be nominated for an Oscar, I'm not sure his is the best male performance of the year. A revelation, yes; the best, probably not. Smith's son, who is named Christopher, is refreshing and cute but not cloying.

If you like Smith, you'll like his performance but just bring along some Prozac to help you along.

Bags of popcorn (out of 5): 3 (for Smith's performance), 2.5 (for the movie)

peace,

paul

Addendum (in reference to a comment I received): I was too harsh on Newton's character, Newton does give a layered performance, I just thought she was too harsh at times. Smith's character, Chris, spends most of the movie as a self absorbed-I-deserve-everything macho dude and Newton, as Linda, plays well off of that. I'm a fan of Newton and I didn't totally dislike her in the film.

possible Oscar nods

Best Actor

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Newton gives one of the best performances of year in this movie. She adds little touches, like looking haggard and like a woman who works 16 hours a day by not wearing any makeup. She pours tea back into the pitcher so that they can save money. She's disappointed when the best present that they can give their son on his birthday is a basketball.

Since Linda's the one who is supporting the family financially for some time, I can understand her frustration with Chris.

It would stupid if she weren't frustrated. My problem is that Chris never sees her sacrifices. He only sees his struggles and that seems to be a bit out of place for the type of character that Will Smith was trying to portray.

Other than that, Will was wonderful.