The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Of the movies (Casino Royale, Charlotte’s Web, and Rocky) I watched during the Xmas 2006 break at Pleasure Island, I enjoyed The Pursuit of Happyness the most. Some might be tempted to say “Hollywood dramatization,” but the movie was crafted so wonderfully, none of it felt forced.
The story began with Chris Gardner and his life as a portable x-ray machine salesman. His wife was working as a … I don’t know what she did, but she probably didn’t make much either. They have a 4 or 5 year old son ~ not yet old enough for first grade and burdened the both of them heavily with daycare (cost & time). When Chris happened across a man parking a Ferrari one day, he asked what the man do for a living and Chris learned that stock brokerage was a good way to good money. When an opportunity came up to become a stock broker intern, Chris applied himself, and thus — the struggle.
I don’t think I would make it in the stock broker world ~ but Chris with his quick mind, sharp wits, and mathematically inclined brain was made for manipulating and selling stocks! The problem is getting to the end of the internship with problems piling up left and right — very very real problems ~ not those silly ones from say “Legally Blonde”. I don’t want to ruin the movie for anyone that might happen to glance over this - so I’ll leave this post by saying it’s a great movie and that if I myself forget what it’s about when I re-read this post in a year or 10 — I should rent and watch it again.