This document provides information about the 2006 film "The Pursuit of Happyness" starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith. It discusses the main actors and genres of the film, which tells the true story of Chris Gardner's struggle with homelessness as he interns at a brokerage firm. Both positive and negative reviews are mentioned, praising the father-son chemistry but finding the story overly grim.

1. The Pursuit of
Happyness

2. Leading Actor: Will Smith
Nominated for an Academy Award for his role in this motion picture.

3. Jaden Smith
Son of Will Smith, has won numerous awards for a newcomer to acting.
You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do
somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't
do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.

4. Thandie Newton
Award winning British actress, known most for her work in “Crash”

5. Genres of the Movie
•1. Biography
•2. Drama
•3. “Feel-good” tear-jerker

6. Main themes of this story
• 1. The chains of poverty and neglect
that are holding the lower social
classes down.
• “breaking down the walls”
• 2. Happiness cannot be achieved and
all that you have is the pursuit of it.
• 3. Reinforce the values of family unity
and father-son relationships.

7. Brief synopsis of the movie
• This film tells the story of one year in the life of Chris Gardner.
• It is 1981 in San Francisco, California, and the main character,
Chris Gardner, is a husband and father trying to make ends
meet with a low paying job of selling “Bone Density Scanners”.
• His wife, Linda, works double shifts at the laundromat.
• His son, Christopher, attends Day care, and is a smart young
man, always following his father’s advice.
• Chris has a difficult time selling the scanners, and eventually
loses his car, his apartment, and his wife who moves to New
York City in hopes of finding a better life for herself.
• By chance, Chris meets a man driving a red Ferrari, and after
finding out that the man is a stock broker, decides he wants to
pursue this career as well.

8. Brief synopsis of the movie
• Chris enlists as an unpaid intern to learn about the job.
He has a 1 in 20 chance of landing the job that will
realize his dream of making a lot of money, and being
happy.
• By taking this position, Chris eventually becomes
homeless with his son. Sometimes they find a warm
place to sleep, other times they do not.
• This pushes Chris to try harder and with even more
determination.
• From being destitute and homeless, Chris eventually
lands a job at a prestigious stock brokerage, and in the
coming years, becomes a multi-millionaire.

9. Positive reviews
• “… this is a well made, sharply written and ultimately
uplifting drama, but it really piles on the misery before
you get there...” - Matthew Turner (View London)
• “... the on-screen chemistry between father and son is a
winning formula – lifting the film from just another tear-
jerker into a heartfelt and compelling slice of cinema…”
• - Johnny Vaughn (Sun Online)
• “... few films so convincingly portray the titanic struggle
that some people face day in and day out just to
survive...”
• - Brandon Fibbs

10. Negative reviews
• “ The Pursuit of Happyness can’t imagine anything worse
than being poor. Except maybe being surrounded by
poor people.”
• - Geoff Pevere (Toronto Star)
• “…relentlessly grim but in a phony, Hollywood kind of
way...”
• - Jamie Graham (TotalFilm)
• “It’s not about happiness. It’s about money. The film
boasts about how many millioins Gardner makes. Is he
happy? You bet...”
• - Stuart McGurk (the londonpaper)

11. My review
• It was exciting to see Will Smith in a different role other than
the usual "action hero". Having seen this flick, I would suggest
two things: (1) Will sticks to action hero and comedy (2)He
keeps his children out of acting since they cannot act(.)
example (After Earth).