Movies - I

I watched three movies over the weekend. On friday – The Pursuit of Happyness (yes, its spelt with a Y); on saturday – We are Marshall followed by Blood Diamond.

The Pursuit of Happyness is a story of human spirit and nicely portrays, what a man desperate enough, can achieve. It is heartwarming to watch Chris Gardner (Will Smith) besting the odds after struggling as a salesman trying to sell a 40 lb gizmo (this one’s a classic) to discerning doctors.

Chris Gardner has invested his savings in acquiring bone scanners which are supposed to be better than x-ray machines. He hopes to make a packet selling these to San Francisco hospitals. There’s only one problem – selling them is not easy. Chris’ wife is depressed with the state of affairs and moves to New York. He is soon rendered homeless, has a five-year old son to take care of and of course, his wonder gizmos remain a difficult sell.

In the midst of his troubles, Chris is inspired by the comforts of a stock broker he meets, and decides he must become one too. He gets into the internship program at Dean Witter after solving the Rubik’s Cube while the HR honcho looks on. The catch is that the six month internship is without salary! Chris must survive for that duration, look after his son and hope that he lands the job when the internship ends.

The screenplay is terrific – there’s an eclectic mixture of comedy (where on earth did the director dream of the bone scanner), tears (father and son spending the night inside the restroom of the subway) and happYness.

Will Smith does full justice to the role of Chris Gardner - his performance is being touted as worthy of the Oscar. Will Smith’s son plays Chris Gardner’s son in the movie and does a great job too – like father, like son. I would rate it as 4.5/5 stars