THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

I avoided this film for a while because I thought it would be another sappy success story.

It is actually a fierce success story.

It describes how a man with no financial resources takes care of his son, and deals with massive personal and financial problems while competing with dozens of others for a position as an apprentice... er... make that junior, stock broker.

There is more than a passing resemblance between the real competition the character in the movie faces, and the reality show competitions that contestants in Burnettesque shows face on television.

One reason the movie succeeds is the brilliant (Oscar nominated) performance by Will Smith. He is always on screen and always interesting. His son in the movie, played by Smith's own son, Jaden Smith, makes an excellent screen debut, and they work together with genuine chemistry.

Since the movie is about a father-son relationship, I found it rather strange that the end titles described the career of the father who was the inspiration for the movie, but not what happened to the son. Was he ??? A little strolling through the Internet, however, provides some answers.

By the way, watching The Pursuit Of Happyness would probably not be a bad way to help filmmakers prepare psychologically for the challenges they will find On The Lot (OTL), a Burnett reality show starting Tuesday.