Will Smith gives a surprisingly rich performance as a suburban dreamer who refuses to say die.
“You got a dream, you gotta protect it. If you want something, go get it. Period.” Words of wisdom passed from struggling medical supply salesman Chris Gardner (Smith) to his 5-year-old son Christopher (real-life son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith). The sentiment bears heavy meaning considering the hardships Gardner faces. He’s a suddenly single parent trying to break off a piece of the American dream by enrolling in a risky unpaid internship program with high-profile stockbroker Dean Witter.
San Francisco circa 1981 is a city ripe with potential if you know how to work it. And Gardner works like a madman to protect his boy and pull himself out of a perpetual hole. When it gets as hard-luck as it can — a dissatisfied wife (Thandie Newton) who abandons father and son, faulty bone-density scanners that won’t sell, no rent for the apartment and the IRS nipping at his heels — Gardner somehow reaches into untapped reserves of tenacity and courage.
Inspirational? You betcha. It’s based on the real-life struggles of self-made gazillionaire Chris Gardner. But the film is darker than Smith’s standard fare, sidestepping easy comedy in favor of a jaggedly desperate narrative that makes you work for its climax if not its message. The despair runs deep, a striking complement to Smith’s on-point performance as a closet braniac anxious to unleash his inner genius.
“Pursuit” looks like a big slick Hollywood production, the kind generally trotted out at the holidays for maximum sentimental consumption. Unlike most box-office giants, though, this quasi-rags-to-riches tale only occasionally overplays its hand, edging close to maudlin and depressing but generally retreating on the cusp.
Smith has real chops as a dramatic actor, his talent running the gamut from facial expressions to timing to body language. The younger Smith — he of the mouthful moniker — is a pleasant surprise, hitting genuine notes where it would be simpler to ham it up kid-style. San Francisco is its glorious self with a hard-edge focus on the Tenderloin.
A real-life story that feels real — uncommonly refreshing.
Rating: PG-13 for language. 1 hours, 57 minutes.
–Jeanne Aufmuth
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