Review: Smith's latest an unfulfilling pursuit

Pulled from a class assignment on arts reviews, a bit stale since the movie has been out for awhile but it was just released on DVD at my local Blockbuster, so thought I'd check it out:

In 2001, the author and journalist Barbara Ehrenreich published a book that documented a personal and investigative sortie of hers into the world of America’s working poor.

Ehrenreich’s book retraced a grueling three-month campaign where the author waited tables in the Florida Keys, scrubbed the bathrooms of Maine’s rich, and succumbed to working at a Wal-Mart in Minnesota, all in the author’s attempt to unearth just how the poor manage to get by.

What she found was “a thousand desperate stratagems for survival.”

Ehrenreich’s book is a marvelous tale of the human spirit’s indefatigable impulse to carry on. Cue the segue.

Fortunately for those who haven’t read her book or actually experienced the dearth of poverty first hand—which I hope is the very large majority of you—The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith, provides a palatable if somewhat clichéd substitute for Ehrenreich’s revelation. With much less effort, too.

The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the real life story of San Franciscan Chris Gardner, a poor and downtrodden salesmen who—with what is seemingly his last death kick—manages to miraculously land a lucrative internship and eventual job at a downtown brokerage firm.

Yet in the process, Gardner’s wife leaves him, he and his son become homeless, Gardner faces tax seizure capped by a little jail time to round out the gamut of blows dealt to him. However, this being a story fit for a motion picture, Gardner and son emerge victorious after he gets the job, and both go on to enjoy a comfortable life free from want.

OK, heartwarming. Uplifting…I guess.

If your moral compass points you toward the pursuit of money as the panacea to life’s challenges, this will inspire you.

You’ll relate to the epiphanal moments of the picture, when Gardner sees a Ferrari outside of his future brokerage, and decides then to go after the internship; or when, as the intern, he follows a client home one night to pursue a deal only to become stupefyingly enamored by the client’s sizable house.

Do not get the wrong impression, big houses and nice cars are, well, nice. But they’re not the sole ends of happiness in themselves, are they?

Yet there is something to be said about the reaffirmation of the American Dream here. Afterall, after living for so long in the nightmare shadow of it, Gardner’s vindication is worth watching, and it’s nice to be told that meritocracy is still alive.

To sentimentalize things a bit further, Gardner’s son is played by Jaden Smith, the real life son of father, Will—in a savvy ploy to tug at the heartstrings of the Academy perhaps (to little avail).

The father and son tandem do a commendable job of retelling Gardner’s story. Smith’s (Will) performance is as ever, workmanlike and professional, but not especially noteworthy. Jaden Smith is also passable in this picture; not quite the twinkle of a star yet, but there may be a future for the kid.

All in all, The Pursuit of Happyness is a reassuring story about the triumph of the human spirit over seemingly impossible circumstances. Gardner fought tooth-and-nail out of homelessness into a life of comfort; something we can all relate to on some level, and admire.

Yet it’s difficult to get past the clichéd rehashing of a tired parable, and if one would like to get a true glimpse into the triumph of the human spirit over impossible circumstances, reading Ehrenreich’s book is the more worthwhile pursuit.

-JS