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December 12, 2006
The Pursuit of Happyness
I watch a lot of films, and while I can be very critical of what does and doesn’t work in them, I am also almost always entertained by all those shiny lights moving around on the screen.
Tonight, I went to see a preview screening of The Pursuit of Happyness.
I hated it.
I hated it so much that in between every scene, when the audience is supposed to be absorbing the emotional impact of what just happened, I was thinking, “I hate this movie,” and “Maybe I’ll leave,” and “The mall’s still open. I could shop or something.”
This is one of those “based on a true story” movies. I don’t know what this guy’s life was really like, but I suspect it wasn’t nearly so conveniently emotionally manipulative as the film portrayed it. I don’t think filmmakers do anyone any favors when they stack the deck, throwing every single bad thing they can think of at someone two steps away from martyred sainthood. And what happened to just enough to tell a story? I did not need 115 minutes of the same sorts of bad things happening over and over to appreciate the two minutes of something good actually happening in the end. I’m usually a Will Smith fan, but this was like something they’d show on the Lifetime network if only the main character wasn’t male.
If you’ve ever seen films with me, then you know that I’m one of those people who must watch the credits until the end. I read almost everything and give a little cheer if the movie was shot on Kodak film (so dramatically less over the past couple years), but I couldn’t even bear to stay in my seat for the full acting credits so much as the crew and tech stuff.
Ugh.
That is two hours of my life that is never coming back. At least it was free.
Posted by adrienne at December 12, 2006 10:20 PM
Comments
Would Will Smith's character have at least passed the bus test? It's hard to imagine a Will Smith character that doesn't pass the bus test, he's so charismatic.
Posted by: chuck at December 13, 2006 10:07 AM
I saw it on Monday. What was up with all the Will Smith running? It reminded me of those old OJ Simpson commercials where he is running through the airport and NO ONE needs to be reminded of that or him.
While I wasn't thinking about how much I hated this movie, I was thinking about things like Social Services, WIC, and other such services that could have helped this guy and his wife out while he was doing the internship.
At least it was free, Amen to that.
Posted by: Lori at December 13, 2006 11:28 AM
I haven't seen the movie, but a year or so ago I heard an interview with Chris Gardner (the gent Will Smith portrays) on either the Diane Rehms Show or Fresh Air with Terry Gross. They were discussing his autobiography and the stories he was telling were awful & awfuller (until they got really really good). I remember thinking something like "when they make the movie, no one will believe it". Hmmmm
Posted by: Steph at December 13, 2006 11:31 AM
It's true that he was totally likable, and one of the bright spots in the film was when his bitch of a wife left him. I HATED her. He was so better off without her.
Posted by: adrienne at December 13, 2006 01:15 PM
I heard that the title comes from Will Smith's character seeing a sign at his son's public school that reads, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happyness", and that it spurns the man to get his kid in a private school. Is this true? Cause if it is, I ain't interested.
Posted by: Fuse #8 at December 15, 2006 11:57 AM
It is true that Will Smith's character kept expressing his annoyance at the spelling of "happyness" in a bit of graffiti outside his son’s day care facility (which, it was strongly implied, was inexpensive for good reason), but they didn’t make any connection to that spurring Will Smith’s character on to great things. It was more a glaringly obvious symbol, as was a Rubik’s cube. It’s the whole wow-isn’t-life-great-in-all-its-complexity thing. I mean, life is kind of great in all its complexity, but this film made it all seem sort of cheap.
Posted by: adrienne at December 15, 2006 12:28 PM