Film Fest: Pursuit of Happyness
I always learn the newest stuff when I am around my son and his wife. He subscribes to NetFlix, and tries to figure out movies that will be interesting for me, and evenings we watch something.
Occasionally, I just walk out – I’m reading a good book, and it is easy to walk away from a mediochre movie. He was watching The Matador, and about five minutes in, I could figure it wasn’t going to get any better and walked away. Yesterday, we went to the afternoon showing of the new Harry Potter movie. I just remember the book as being so much better, so much more gripping, and we knew more about what was going on in Harry’s head.
Last night we watched Pursuit of Happyness, and all three of us complained half way through “when is this movie going to get happy?” It is a cliff hanger movie, almost the entire movie this man is dancing on the edge of total disaster. Since it is a true life story, we keep hoping it will have a happy ending. Will Smith, always one of our favorite actors anyway, makes this movie believable and keeps us watching, even though it is painful.
Sometimes, his only choices are painful or more painful. It isn’t an easy movie to watch. Chris Gardner has his own struggling business, makes some bad decisions and almost loses everything, even landing in jail on the day of a job interview he believes could change his life. Even when things go right, things go wrong, and you watch this very good man struggle to achieve a life where he can even just pay his bills and pay his taxes.
And, in the end, totally worth it, especially if you are watching it on disk and can look at some of the extras, like the interview with Chris Gardner, who wrote the book on which the movie is based. And one really cool thing is that the son in the movie is played by Will Smith’s real-life son, Jaden Smith. The connection between them is so real and so beautiful.
And tonight is Sunday night, and a new episode of John from Cincinatti will be coming on!
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I love this movie. My son,9, made me buy it cause he loved it so. My family thought I was crazy because they thought it too depressing; however, I kept telling them it would be happy in the end. I think even in the middle it was happy/inspiring because it showed that the son was content with just the love of his father.
BTW, do they show movies such as this in KW, or just the action/thriller type? Hmmmmmm
I thought this was a great movie. You are right, it was painful to watch at times, but it was very uplifting.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Absolutely amazing.
Oh! I am so glad you all found it as memorable as I did! Dixie, you can BY movies like this in Kuwait because there is no kissing! Maria, it gives us all hope to cling to our dreams and work like the dickens to attain them, doesn’t it? 🙂 And R, it is so much about protecting our children, isn’t it, and creating a better life for them? And it’s something I find in EVERY culture, people who protect their children, and sacrifice to give them a better, more secure life.