Before I begin, I must mention that there is significance to word "happyness" being spelled incorrectly. I wish the trailer had shown us why because it seems to annoy those who haven't seen it, but trust me there is a reason for it. Ok, on to the review. I cried, a lot. By a lot I mean pretty much the entire last 35 minutes of the movie. Of course, evoking tears doesn't a great movie make, on its own, so, is the movie very good or just able to get the tear jerker reaction. Simply put, the movie works in every way imaginable, if you let it. It is very easy to walk in this thing with a pessimistic attitude, looking for faults and completely missing the point of this incredibly well acted, well paced well intentioned film.
Will Smith loses every single trademark mannerism or character quirks that he has built a career doing. Yes, he is charming, but he isn't oozing charm. Yes, he still has that smile, but here he uses to fight through the tears. He uses it to keep from losing his mind. He is a tremendous father, but still gets on his child when he can't quite articulate to the child what is happening, and oh what a child it is. The kid, played by Will's real son, is acting in his first role and is equal parts adorable and crazy talented. I imagine it was easy to do along side dad, but he never backs down from the emotional scenes and helps the movie complete its quest of having us believe in these people. In reality, the movie only works because they give us the first 35 minutes to fall in love with Smith and his son. However, we never blame the wife for leaving because we get to know her and we come to understand the hardships of trying to make ends meet.
The movie is heart breaking without question, but it never feels cheesy or contrived. You can't help but want this family to get through the lose of apartment, loss of hotel room and the nights sleeping in a bathroom or on a subway car. Smith is smart, caring and strong willed and pulls it off without ever playing into too many cliches. Of course, because it is inspired from a true story it will have its cliche riddled moments, but because Smith is so capable you never focus on them. I have seen some incredible movies and performances this year, but I think This performance by Smith is my favorite of the year. Never have I seen a character on screen I was routing for more than this one. Never have I felt like jumping for joy when the characters did, or never have I wanted to help a character when they were down. Also, the director chose the perfect ending to the film. We see the completion of one section of this man's life and he gives us that ending. If he were to go much longer the movie could become a slogan for capitalism meaning "money makes one happy", but they didn't. Instead they let us in on the joy of a man accomplishing the impossible and finally able to provide for his family and that is true happiness.
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This is the post I put on IMDb:
Okay, when I first heard of this I was skeptical. Even though Smith did an incredible job in Ali, I did not think he could pull off another dramatic role. I saw the commercial and thought it looked good, but I was finally convinced to see it when my friend said he cried during it. Well, I saw it and I really wanted to like it more than I did. There was just something that didn't click in this movie for me. It could have been I did not feel either story was developed enough to fully make me happy. Both stories started out bad and just got worse and worse until he got the job at the end. Anybody could have seen that coming, and I felt cheated out.
Everything in the movie just seemed like a cliche to me. Two years ago I watched a movie in my health class is was either an HBO original or a Lifetime original. It was about this girl who had drug addicted parents, and how she became homeless and how she got into some big college at the end. It was also a true story, and while I thought "wow. that was cheesy." It delivered more of an emotional punch than this did.
The most dissappointing aspect for me was the acting. I thought everybody was good, don't get me wrong, but I didn't think it was as good as everybody said it was. Smith just seemed like him playing homeless Will Smith (as opposed to in ALI where he seemed like a totally different person). His son was just a standard child actor, and I do not see a future from him. The woman who played his wife (I don't remember her name) was pretty bad (which shocked me because she was pretty damn good in Crash).
All in all, a film I'm glad I saw for the hype, but it didn't live up to it
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