THE ENDING OF THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
AFTER A HELLISH TIME OF IT, WILL SMITH’S CHRIS GARDNER GETS HIS DUE. ENDLESS HAPPY TEARS GUARANTEED
SUCCESS ALWAYS MEANS that much more when you’ve been through hell and back to attain it. In the case of The Pursuit Of Happyness, the trials and tribulations of Chris Gardner (Will Smith) are especially gruelling — which makes the movie’s final triumphant moments all the more gratifying.
Up until its cathartic climax, The Pursuit Of Happyness is about as far away from feelgood as possible. For much of the preceding 100 minutes Gardner is a struggling, desperate man who falls lower and lower, finally hitting rock-bottom when he resorts to sleeping in a locked toilet at a railway station with his son (played by Smith’s own son, Jaden). This and other lowlights, like lining up at homeless shelters night after night, are experiences the real Gardner went through. That we’re witness to such heartbreaking scenes is part of what makes the denouement so effective: we’ve seen all the blood, sweat and tears that have been shed to reach it.
Having been put through a rigorous internship programme to become a stockbroker — after which only one person gets hired — Gardner is summoned to a room with all the partners at the firm, where he’s informed that he’s won the position. What follows is absolute elation, no less pure for how understated it is, as a teary-eyed Gardner thanks his bosses and makes his exit. The smart choice to go mostly wordless and restrained rather than demonstrative works beautifully. Only when Gardner is outside are
those barely contained emotions allowed to spill over into a full-bodied celebration; you almost want to reach through the screen and rejoice with him.
The real-life father-son connection between Will and Jaden adds poignancy to multiple scenes, from a motivational lesson given on a basketball court to a beach getaway just before Gardner gets the good news. Most powerful, though, is the hug their characters share afterwards. It’s the perfect note on which to end the joyful sequence, underlining what all the sacrifices have been for. That the movie’s final shot has them walking by the real-life Gardner — now a millionaire and motivational speaker — only makes it sweeter.