The early The Pursuit of Happyness reviews are coming in, and not surprisingly they are pretty low. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the trailer, and it got me interested in the film… I still am interested. However, it also always struck me as a film begging for an Oscar… and perhaps nothing more than a vehicle of the studio to try to get Will Smith one. The problem is, when you try to do something like that (Take “Babel” for example) you run the risk of coming off as cheesy and forced.
Here is what some of the critics are saying in their The Pursuit of Happyness reviews:
“The Pursuit of Happyness winds up being a little like the determined salesman Mr. Gardner himself: easy to root for, certainly, but not that much fun to spend time with.”
Brian Lowry Variety“At its core The Pursuit of Happyness is a good story — one that’s literally rags to riches, and didn’t need the many tweaks and embellishments that Italian director Gabriele Muccino and writer Steven Conrad have added.”
Christy Lemire Associated Press“By reducing the story of homelessness to only Chris Gardner’s, The Pursuit of Happyness is saying that anybody can get out of the gutter by simply really, really wanting to do better.”
Devin Faraci CHUD“… this is a slick studio production with a huge movie star and top professionals occupying every production role so that the polish of this well-made film makes even homelessness look neat and tidy.”
Kirk Honeycutt Hollywood Reporter
As of this moment, of Happyness is holding a 32% on Rottentomatoes.. What are you expecting from it?