Patman

I found this film exhausting to watch as it made its turn for the home stretch. How bad could it get for Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith)? Well, it gets pretty depressing for a guy betting it all on being a 1-in-20 shot to get a job as a stockbroker at Dean Witter in the early 1980's as he finagles his way into a 6-month internship with no salary and has major money woes, and basically struggles daily, while taking care of his son because the wife bails on him.

Will Smith does a good job in the acting department, and his real-life son Jaden is cute enough to get the job done as little Christopher Gardner, but the script is simply too long, and features far too many running sequences for Will Smith to go chasing hippies and homeless people. Of course, when you see the "inspired by a real story" tag, you are left with a pretty predictable storyline, and the acting can't quite propel the film to greatness on most levels, and ends up being a decent way to spend a couple of hours, but it wouldn't be on my recommend list unless the potential viewer is a Will Smith fan.

I didn't enjoy the heavy film grain look whenever the cameras are brought inside Gardner's apartment, it was jarring to me the multiple times it happened within the story, and I didn't think it enhanced the bleakness the director was going for with such a conscious decision to shoot in "low-light" condition to impart that graininess look to the footage.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.

iggystar

Patman....I've never agreed with a review more in my life. From the trailer I kind of predicted that's how this movie would turn out, but even more so. I was completely drained, it was too "real" with everyday strife. Unlike true melodrama I had not catharsis... I was just tired after.

Will Smith did a great job though.

movieking

I think that I read somewhere that the father and son had a falling out and are no longer in touch with each other in real life. Can anyone verify this? Maybe it was on 20/20 I saw this when they did a report on this guy a few months back.

MANBREASTS

Chris Gardner was just on Oprah with Will Smith and Chris's son was in the front row, Oprah asked if he remembered anything that happened in the film but he was much younger then he was potryed in the movie.

ShaunoftheDead

They have actually been appearing together everywhere. Movie opening, etc...

cultshock

I'm excited about the film solely because Mego Cap is on the movie poster and seems to have a role in the movie. (yep, I'm just a big toy geek)

Patman

BTW, Will Smith is going to make a great Jessie Jackson in a biopic, his Chris Gardner looked a bit like him with the flecks of grey in his hair.

Daytripper

Reason #1 why I'm not going to see this film. Can't get past his look. That, and the movie just screams "Lifetime".

Drexl

I actually thought it was a JJ biopic when I first saw the ad!

BTW, what is the reason for the title spelling?

DRG

Mild spoilers of plot points ahead, but it's all sort of general to the story so I'm not even sure where I would use spoiler tags.

I didn't think it was bad for what it was, but I did have an issue with the story and I'm not sure if it a creation of the writers or just the way this guy really was. Why did this guy make no attempt to get a second job? I realize he had to take care of his son, etc., but it seems to me if he picked up a night shift at McDonalds or something, even if it was just weekends, he'd be providing for his son better than the chaotic life of sleeping on filthy bathroom floors and homeless shelters.

The film really made it seem like selling those bone scanners was his ONLY option for making money while he was in the no-pay internship. So it was a bit hard to accept his hardships when they seemed to be largely self-imposed.

Also, the character just seemed to have the most screwed up priorities in the world. For one, he didn't have his child's best interests in mind. He won't let his wife take their son for some "I want to be there for my son because my dad wasn't there for me" reason that's borderline arrogant. On top of that, he puts his kid's well being at jeopardy while he pursues this long shot pipe dream.

I suppose we're supposed to cheer because it all worked out in the end and the guy became a millionaire, but there's a fine line here separating "inspirational success story" from "foolish arrogant failure".

John_Shil

From Wikipedia,

maingon

movie got 2 big thumbs up on Roger and Ebert

mndtrp

Are there any Will Smith-ism's? I'll see this movie, as long as I don't have to hear anything like "Oh, no you di'int."

iggystar

Much of the trials suffered were pretty much self-imposed, but that's life you know. I for one, would have never taken such chances. But I've made my own share of poor decisions where the situation snowballed. Remember, they ended up at a homeless shelter after a very untimely thing happened.

Now to say that he should have went and got a McDonald's job...I don't know...who would have watched his son? That would have cost more money as well. While I certainly wouldn't have made the same choices this guy he wasn't completely careless.

al_bundy

they had chris gradner on with maria bartiromo this weekend. great guy. he said when he was selling stocks he used to hear N**** jokes by his customers because they thought he was white. since the money was good, he learned to ignore the jokes

Groucho

Stockbroker: "IBM has just gone down 10 points!"

Will Smith: "Ah, hell no!"

GIjon213

Though this wasn't my first (or second, or third....) choice to go see this weekend, it turned out I was out-voted. My appreciation turned out to be misguided, however, now that I look back on this movie.

Though predictable as Titanic, this movie doesn't feed it's audience the common fodder one would expect from a rags-to-riches Hollywood story.

"Draining" is the word I have seen describe this movie, and for good reason. Every time Chris Gardner seems to be rising above his never-ending turmoil of financial woes and eviction notices, he is faced with another mammoth dilemma. Your hopes raise with his, only to be let down and dragged through the mud until the next scene. But Will Smith seems to take this burden and make it his own, with his emotion shining through his character. You see this man get pushed to the edge and thrown over just to have him climb back up the cliff of life and push just a little harder towards his goal.

One can not help but identify with his character, and when the roller coaster ride of emotion finally ends and the light at the end of the tunnel is reviled, you can watch the burdens Chris Gardner carried just roll off his weary back, and you as the audience will also breath a sigh of relief.

das Monkey

While they didn't specify exactly why, they made it pretty clear that the mother wasn't mature enough to raise the kid; the fact that she moved to New York without him and didn't even put up the slightest fight underscores that.

Anyway, just took the family to see this, and I agree with the criticism that this movie was just draining. Smith is pretty incredible here, but the pacing of the film is exhausting, and when you finally get to the big conclusion, it just doesn't pack near as good a punch as it should.

This man's ego knows no bounds.

das

Brent_MN

I enjoyed this one, but like other said...draining. I was getting stressed...can't this guy catch a break? Where's his parents in all of this? Just a mention of them being dead or something might've helped. Unless I missed something.

Will Smith was superb...but...I don't think I'll ever desire to see this again.

'...ass a-hole...'

devilshalo

There is a very quick line at the beginning about never knowing his own father who had walked out, so he wanted to make sure he was there for Christopher.

I think everyone knew the ending, but you are right in saying it didn't pack a punch.. it was more of a relief, relief that after all that was said and done, Chris and his son were going to be ok. The only film more draining than this was Oliver Stone's Heaven and Earth.

mllefoo

I can't get past the misspelling of Happiness.

mllefoo

Aw, Ha-ell no.

fumanstan

I caught this last night and enjoyed it, although I do agree that the ending didn't pack much of a punch. I thought Will Smith was fantastic throughout the movie.

I did mention to my girlfriend after the movie that I found it hard to blame the wife for leaving and being fed up with the situation. You here her talk about pulling double shifts every day and has to keep waiting for Chris to do nothing else except sell those stupid boxes? I'd be frustrated as hell too.

alfredog1976

Sure it would be frustrating, but c'mon, that's her child she left. I might be a little sympathetic if it was just her and the husband...very selfish on her part IMO.

MovieEnthusiast

I agree with [b]gijon's[b/] assessment... the movie was very "Draining". I think that if the conclusion of the film did not turn out as it did, the movie audience would have committed mass suicide.

Sometime I hope to be able to figure out how to insert other Forum Users' quotes... have been unable to find out how to do it in the FAQ's.

Jim