The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 American biographical drama film directed by Gabriele Muccino and starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a homeless salesman. Smith s son Jaden Smith co-stars, making his film debut as Gardner s son, Christopher Jr. The screenplay by Steven Conrad is based on the best-selling 2006 memoir of the same name written by Gardner with Quincy Troupe. It is based on Gardner s nearly one-year struggle being homeless. The unusual spelling of the film s title comes from a mural that Gardner sees on the wall outside the daycare facility his son attended. The movie is set in San Francisco in 1981.

The film was released on December 15, 2006, by Columbia Pictures, and received moderately positive reviews, with Smith’s performance and the emotional weight of the story garnering universal acclaim. Smith was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Plot

In 1981, San Francisco salesman Chris Gardner invests his entire life savings in portable bone-density scanners, which he demonstrates to doctors and pitches as a handy improvement over standard X-rays. The scanners play a vital role in Chris s life. While he is able to sell most of them, the time lag between the sales and his growing financial demands enrage his already bitter and alienated wife, Linda, who works as a hotel maid. The economic instability increasingly erodes their marriage, despite caring for Christopher Jr., their soon-to-be five-year-old son.

While Gardner is trying to sell one of the scanners, he meets Jay Twistle, a lead manager and partner for Dean Witter Reynolds, and impresses him by solving a Rubik s Cube during a taxi ride. After Jay leaves, Gardner lacks the money to pay the fare and chooses to run instead, causing the driver to angrily chase him into a BART station. Gardner boards a train but loses one of his scanners in the process. His new relationship with Jay earns him the chance to become an intern stockbroker. The day before the interview, Gardner grudgingly agrees to paint his apartment to postpone being evicted due to his difficulty in paying the rent. While painting, Gardner is greeted by two policemen at his doorstep, who take him to the station, stating he has to pay for the numerous parking tickets he has accumulated. As part of the sanction, Gardner is ordered to spend the night in jail instead, complicating his schedule for the interview the following day. Gardner arrives at Dean Witter s office on time, albeit still in his shabby clothes. Despite his appearance, he impresses the interviewers and lands a six-month unpaid internship. He would be amongst 20 interns competing for a paid position as a stockbroker.

Gardner s unpaid internship does not please Linda, who eventually leaves for New York, because she might get a job at her sister s boyfriend s new restaurant. After Gardner bluntly tells her that she is incapable of being a single parent, she agrees that Christopher will remain with Chris. Gardner is further set back when the IRS garnishes his bank account for unpaid income taxes, and he and Christopher are evicted. He ends up with less than $22, resulting in them being homeless, and they are forced at one point to stay in a restroom at a BART station. Other days, he and Christopher spend nights at a homeless shelter, in BART, or, if he manages to procure sufficient cash, at a hotel. Later, Gardner finds the bone scanner that he lost in the BART station earlier and, after repairing it, sells it to a physician, thus completing all sales of his scanners.

Disadvantaged by his limited work hours and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the broker position, Gardner develops several ways to make phone sales calls more efficiently, including reaching out to potential high-value customers and defying protocol. One sympathetic prospect, Walter Ribbon, a top-level pension fund manager, even takes Gardner and his son to a San Francisco 49ers game where he befriends some of Walter s friends who are also potential clients. Regardless of his challenges, he never reveals his lowly circumstances to his colleagues, even going so far as to lend one of his bosses, Mr. Frohm, five dollars for cab fare, a sum he cannot afford. Gardner also studies for and aces the stockbroker license exam.

As he concludes his last day of internship, he is summoned to a meeting with the partners. Mr. Frohm notes he is wearing a new shirt, to which Gardner explains he thought it appropriate to dress for the occasion on his last day. Mr. Frohm smiles and says he should wear another one tomorrow, letting him know he has won the coveted full-time position and reimburses him for the previous cab ride. Fighting back tears, Gardner shakes hands with the partners, then rushes to his son s daycare to embrace Christopher. They walk down the street, joking with each other (and are passed by the real Chris Gardner, in a business suit). The epilogue reveals that Gardner went on to form his own multimillion-dollar brokerage firm.

Cast

• Will Smith as Chris Gardner
• Jaden Smith as Christopher Gardner, Jr.
• Thandiwe Newton (credited as Thandie Newton) as Linda Gardner
• Brian Howe as Jay Twistle
• Dan Castellaneta as Alan Frakesh
• James Karen as Martin Frohm
• Kurt Fuller as Walter Ribbon
• Takayo Fischer as Mrs. Chu
• Mark Christopher Lawrence as Wayne
• Chris Gardner as Walking Man in Business Suit

Production

Development

Chris Gardner realized his story had Hollywood potential after an overwhelming national response to an interview he did with 20/20 in January 2003. He published his autobiography on May 23, 2006, and later became an associate producer for the film. The film took some liberties with Gardner s true-life story. Certain details and events that actually took place over the span of several years were compressed into a relatively short time and although eight-year-old Jaden portrayed Chris as a five-year-old, Gardner s son was just a toddler at the time. Towards the end, Chris Gardner has a brief uncredited cameo appearance before the credits.

Casting

Chris Gardner initially thought Smith, an actor best known for his performances in blockbuster films, was miscast to play him. However, he claimed his daughter Jacintha said, If can play Muhammad Ali, he can play you! , referring to Smith s role in the biopic Ali (2001).

Music

Varèse Sarabande released a soundtrack album with the score composed by Andrea Guerra on January 9, 2007.

No.	Title	Length
1.	Opening	3:09
2.	Being Stupid	1:39
3.	Running	1:30
4.	Trouble at Home	1:30
5.	Rubiks Cube Taxi	1:53
6.	Park Chase	2:29
7.	Linda Leaves	4:02
8.	Night at Police Station	1:36
9.	Possibly	1:45
10.	Where s My Shoe	4:20
11.	To the Game/Touchdown	1:37
12.	Locked Out	2:20
13.	Dinosaurs	2:40
14.	Homeless	1:55
15.	Happyness	3:50
16.	Welcome Chris	3:45
Total length:		40:00

Also in the film are brief portions of Higher Ground and Jesus Children of America , both sung by Stevie Wonder, and Lord, Don t Move the Mountain by Mahalia Jackson and Doris Akers, sung by the Glide Ensemble.

Release

Box office

The film debuted first at the North American box office, earning $27 million during its opening weekend and beating out heavily promoted films such as Eragon and Charlotte s Web. It was Smith s sixth consecutive #1 opening and one of Smith s consecutive $100 million blockbusters. The film grossed $163,566,459 domestically in the US and Canada. In the hope that Gardner s story would inspire the down-trodden citizens of Chattanooga, Tennessee, to achieve financial independence and to take greater responsibility for the welfare of their families, the mayor of Chattanooga organized a viewing of the film for the city s homeless. Gardner himself felt that it was imperative to share his story for the sake of its widespread social issues. When I talk about alcoholism in the household, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, and all of those issues—those are universal issues; those are not just confined to ZIP codes, he said.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on March 27, 2007, and as of November 2007, ADCCA – RPC Region 1 DVD sales (U.S./Canada/Bermuda) accounted for an additional $89,923,088 in revenue, slightly less than half of what was earned in its first week of release. About 5,570,577 units have been sold, bringing in $90,582,602 in revenue.

Reception

Critical response

The film was received generally positively by critics, with Will Smith receiving widespread acclaim for his performance. Film review site Rotten Tomatoes calculated a 67% overall approval based on 177 reviews, with an average rating of 6.40/10. The site s critical consensus reads, Will Smith s heartfelt performance elevates The Pursuit of Happyness above mere melodrama. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews .

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle observed, The great surprise of the picture is that it s not corny … The beauty of the film is its honesty. In its outlines, it s nothing like the usual success story depicted on-screen, in which, after a reasonable interval of disappointment, success arrives wrapped in a ribbon and a bow. Instead, this success story follows the pattern most common in life—it chronicles a series of soul-sickening failures and defeats, missed opportunities, sure things that didn t quite happen, all of which are accompanied by a concomitant accretion of barely perceptible victories that gradually amount to something. In other words, it all feels real.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film a fairy tale in realist drag … the kind of entertainment that goes down smoothly until it gets stuck in your craw … It s the same old bootstraps story, an American dream artfully told, skillfully sold. To that calculated end, the filmmaking is seamless, unadorned, transparent, the better to serve Mr. Smith s warm expressiveness … How you respond to this man s moving story may depend on whether you find Mr. Smith s and his son s performances so overwhelmingly winning that you buy the idea that poverty is a function of bad luck and bad choices, and success the result of heroic toil and dreams.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone awarded the film three out of a possible four stars and commented, Smith is on the march toward Oscar … role needs gravity, smarts, charm, humor and a soul that s not synthetic. Smith brings it. He s the real deal.

In Variety, Brian Lowry said the film is more inspirational than creatively inspired—imbued with the kind of uplifting, afterschool-special qualities that can trigger a major toothache … Smith s heartfelt performance is easy to admire. But the movie s painfully earnest tone should skew its appeal to the portion of the audience that, admittedly, has catapulted many cloying TV movies into hits … In the final accounting, winds up being a little like the determined salesman Mr. Gardner himself: easy to root for, certainly, but not that much fun to spend time with.

Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times stated, Dramatically it lacks the layering of a Kramer vs. Kramer, which it superficially resembles … Though the subject matter is serious, the film itself is rather slight, and it relies on the actor to give it any energy. Even in a more modest register, Smith is a very appealing leading man, and he makes Gardner s plight compelling … The Pursuit of Happyness is an unexceptional film with exceptional performances … There are worse ways to spend the holidays, and, at the least, it will likely make you appreciate your own circumstances.

In the St. Petersburg Times, Steve Persall graded the film B- and added, is the obligatory feel-good drama of the holiday season and takes that responsibility a bit too seriously … the film lays so many obstacles and solutions before its resilient hero that the volume of sentimentality and coincidence makes it feel suspect … Neither Conrad s script nor Muccino s redundant direction shows lifted the real-life Chris above better educated and more experienced candidates, but it comes through in the earnest performances of the two Smiths. Father Will seldom comes across this mature on screen; at the finale, he achieves a measure of Oscar-worthy emotion. Little Jaden is a chip off the old block, uncommonly at ease before the cameras. Their real-life bond is an inestimable asset to the on-screen characters relationship, although Conrad never really tests it with any conflict.

National Review Online has named the film #7 in its list of The Best Conservative Movies . Linda Chavez of the Center for Equal Opportunity wrote, this film provides the perfect antidote to Wall Street and other Hollywood diatribes depicting the world of finance as filled with nothing but greed.

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Academy Award	Best Actor	Will Smith	Nominated
BET Award	Best Actor		Nominated
Black Reel Award	Best Film		Nominated
	Best Actor	Will Smith	Nominated
	Best Breakthrough Performance	Jaden Smith	Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Actor	Will Smith	Nominated
	Best Young Performer	Jaden Smith	Nominated
Capri Award	Movie of the Year		Won
Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Best Actor	Will Smith	Nominated
David di Donatello Award	Best Foreign Film		Nominated
Golden Globe Awards	Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama	Will Smith	Nominated
	Best Original Song ( A Father s Way )	Seal	Nominated
MTV Movie Award	Best Male Performance	Will Smith	Nominated
	Best Breakthrough Performance	Jaden Smith	Won
NAACP Image Award	Outstanding Motion Picture		Won
	Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture	Will Smith	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture	Jaden Smith	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture	Thandie Newton	Nominated
Nastro d Argento	Best Score	Andrea Guerra	Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award	Best Young Actor	Jaden Smith	Won
Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role	Will Smith	Nominated
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie – Drama		Won
	Choice: Chemistry	Will Smith	Won
		Jaden Smith	Won
	Choice: Breakout Male		Won

Year	2006
ReleaseDate	2006-12-15
RuntimeMins	117
RuntimeStr	1h 57min
Plot	A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he’s poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
Awards	Nominated for 1 Oscar, 12 wins & 26 nominations total
Directors	Gabriele Muccino
Writers	Steve Conrad
Stars	Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton, Jaden Smith
Produced by	David Alper,Todd Black,Jason Blumenthal,Mark Clayman,Louis D Esposito,Chris Gardner,James Lassiter,Will Smith,Steve Tisch,Teddy Zee
Music by	Andrea Guerra
Cinematography by	Phedon Papamichael
Film Editing by	Hughes Winborne
Casting By	Denise Chamian
Production Design by	J. Michael Riva
Art Direction by	David F. Klassen
Set Decoration by	James Ira Colburn,Lauri Gaffin
Costume Design by	Sharen Davis
Makeup Department	Pierce Austin,Debra Coleman,Gretchen Davis,Amy L. Disarro,Camille Friend,Wesley Hodge,Melanie Hughes,Judy Murdock,Yvette Rivas,JoAnn Stafford-Chaney,Nancie Marsalis
Production Management	Louis D Esposito,David Siegel
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Jasmine Marie Alhambra,Julian Brain,Greg Hale,Michael Viglietta,Lars P. Winther,Joslyn Rose Lyons,Bill Purple,Cliff T.E. Roseman,Sean Vawter
Art Department	Nate Belove,Todd Bennett,Anthony Carlino,Amina Allean Dieye,Michael E. Goldman,Walt Hadfield,Halsted Craig Hannah,Dale Haugo,Noelle King,Patrick Ludden,Annie Mueller,Chad Owens,Russell Souza,Brian Walker,Lauren Abrams,Kristin Argue,Karen Baker,Jon Berg,Jennifer Clinard,Katherine Covell,Nick D Abo,Michael Denering,Jim Edelhauser,Victoria B. Fender,Vanessa Guerrero,Mike Helbig,Virginia Hopkins,Lawrence Hornbeck,Sean House,Karen Jine,John Lister,Mark Luevano,Cindy Mah,Pierre Maurer,Edward J. McNicoll,John Micheletos,Kimberley Anne Miller,Craig Mohagen,John Oster,Chuck Ray,Chris Regan,Tom Richardson,Natalie Roth-Corti,Gretchen Scharfenberg,Chris Stillman,Kana Takahashi,Louis Visco,Tom Vukmanic,Mark Warren,Jody Weisenfeld,Michael Westerman
Sound Department	Willie D. Burton,Dennis Drummond,Galen Goodpaster,Vincent Guisetti,Michael Haight,Detlef Halaski,Pamela Kahn,Goro Koyama,Marvin E. Lewis,Howard London,Andy Malcolm,Ron Malligers,Kevin O Connell,Michael O Farrell,Eryne Prine,Kyle Rochlin,Greg P. Russell,Meg Taylor,Mark Yardas,Vincent Cirilli,Meagan Costello,Larry Hopkins,Mario Lorenzo,Michael Meier,Stephen Muir,Michael Pasqualone,Neil Riha,Fred Runner
Special Effects by	Matt Heron,Brad Moore,Chuck Ray,Pierre Maurer,Kimberley Anne Miller
Visual Effects by	Erik Bruhwiler,Chris Del Conte,Benoit Girard,Travis Wade Ivy,Anthony Kramer,Andrew Roberts,Ryan T. Smolarek,Tammy Sutton,Tommy Tran,Travis Yohnke,Joseph Bell,Tatjana Bozinovski,D. Walt Cameron,Jason Crosby,Carl Frytz,Taryn P. Kelly,Sean Looper,Landon Medeiros,Jerome Morin,Marco S. Paolini,Chad Ridgeway,Andrew Roberts,Daniel Rubin,Brian Smallwood,Marion Spates,Phi Tran,Tong Tran,Leandro Visconti,Simon Wakley,Dan Walker,Travis Yohnke
Stunts	Thomas Robinson Harper,Randolph LeRoi,Jeff Mosley,Robin Lynn Bonaccorsi,Troy Brown,Rocky Capella,Liisa Cohen,Paul Crawford,Thomas M. Ficke,Randolph LeRoi,Mike Martinez,Rex Reddick,Victor M. Slone
Camera and Electrical Department	Michael Ambrose,Jeph Folkins,Ray Garcia,Kirk R. Gardner,Antonio V. Garrido,Tim Guffin,Bob Hall,Paul Howard,Patrick McArdle,Robert Boomer McCann,Orlando Orona,Goran Pavicevic,Zade Rosenthal,Philip Shanahan,John Trunk,John Allbee,John H.L. Baker,Matt Blomquist,Dane Brehm,Michael Ryan Burns,Gerardo Cabrera,Michael Catalano,Michael Chambliss,Ian Chriss,Gregory Collis,Patrick Figueroa,Sheila Greene,Richard A. Hunt,Rod M. Janusch,Brook Johnson,Kenneth Spike Kirkland,James Kumarelas,Oliver Larry,Zachary Love,Andy Neddermeyer,Ray Patrick,Goran Pavicevic,Arthur Phelan,Blake Pike,Bobby Powell,Dennis Rogers,Mark Sheets,Chris Shellenberger,Jerremy Stewart,Todd Stoneman,Terry Sullivan,Kerry Sweeney,Beau Vaughan,Lou Weinert,Rod Williams,Robert Zuckerman
Casting Department	Angela Demo,Nina Henninger,Colleen Kenneavy,Scout Masterson,Peggy Baslow,Sarah Kliban
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Yvonne Bastidos,Michael Becker,Robert Mata,Riki Lin Sabusawa,Valerie White,Carol H. Beule,Shonda Dilliehunt,Barbara Marko,Fran Murphy,Amy J. Smith,Jodie Stern,Mary Elizabeth Still,Jacqueline Wazir
Editorial Department	John Breinholt,Geraud Brisson,Tritia Espinoza,Mo Henry,Gregg London,Heather Mullen,John Persichetti,Dale Jones,Dave Pickett,Christian Prejza,Kay Sievert,Mark Van Horne
Location Management	Molly Allen,Rory Enke,Jane E. Graves,Dan Kemp,Sara Dering,Sharlene Duale,Neale Fishback,Felix Gehm,Christopher Lee,Peter Moody,Alex Pearcy
Music Department	Jim Black,Michael Boustead,Andrew Duckles,Antongiulio Frulio,Joel Iwataki,Scott Johnson,Andrew Kinney,Blake Neely,Dana Niu,Luca Salvadori,Adam Milo Smalley,Bryan Clements,Mark Eshelman,Robert Fernandez,David Troy Francis,Greg Hayes,Greg Loskorn,Pilar McCurry,Scott McRae,Adam Michalak,Darian Pollard,Brandon Roberts,Gina Zimmitti
Script and Continuity Department	Carol DePasquale
Transportation Department	John Armstrong,Jim Chesney,Chris Howard,Kenny Moore,John Bromstead,Richard Colarossi,Clark Dolan,Christine Dye,Joe Feeney,Chris George,Joe Hunter,Rita Lundin,Ed Ramos,David Weiner,Carlos Williams,Robert A. Wood
Additional Crew	Jana Babatunde-Bey,Zachary Bogart,Mark Bosia,Lacy Boughn,James Chandler,Christine Coggins,Carlos Constanzo,Carolyn Crimley,Vince Cueva,Michelle A. De Mayo,Dustin Felder,Sean Garcia,Gary Glushon,Jason Halley,Brandon Heidt,Laurie Herrmann,Gregory A. Huster II,Ross Jensen,Lance Johnson,Jennifer Jourdan,Rachel Kielborn,Alexandra Lambrinidis,Kristina Lankford,Cynthia F. Lee,Daniel Lee,Teresa Jolene Lee,Ted Leonard,Sharon Lopez,Allan Marasco,Cheryl McHugh,Casey Logan Morris,Ryan Patrick-Najibi,Sandy Reed,Kathy Rowe,Haroon Saleem,Shauna Sanders,Ralph Saunders,Sheilah Sullivan,Cid Swank,Gretel Twombly,Jill Vaupen,Ami Zins,Coleen Aiello,Susan Ali,Andy Arness,Unjoo Lee Byars,Al Cacioppo,Mark Caplin,Brad Carr,Ian Chriss,Toby Conroy,Allison Daly,Timothy TJ James Driscoll,Darrell Foster,Daylen Foster,Jamie L. Gaines,Emily L.G. Goodwin,Antonio Graña,Brian Griffith,Marcy Guiragossian,Jason Halley,Gale Hansen,Mike Harrington,Kurtis Lee Hermes,Russ Honican,Jason Jancosek,Jihyun Kim,Jeffrey E. Kramer,Jim Lau,Dionne Lotivio,Ryan Andrej Lough,Joslyn Rose Lyons,Ryan Mendoza,Dave Moorer,Katie L. Murphy,Blake Nickle,William Pope,Anisa Qureshi,Scott Ragle,Ken Rurkins,Shauna Sanders,Megan Schmidt,Yovel Schwartz,C. Alexander Sears,Marcus D. Spencer,Rich Spott,Erin Stamos,L. La Mar Stewart,Brad Ungar,Jill Vaupen,James D. Weston II
Thanks	Domenico Procacci
Genres	Biography, Drama
Companies	Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Overbrook Entertainment
Countries	USA
Languages	English, Cantonese
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	8
ImDbRatingVotes	506169
MetacriticRating	64
Keywords	motivational,passion,hardwork,hare krishna,american dream