howeird | Pursuit of HappYness

Very short review because this is a highly depressing movie. Will Smith does some fine acting, and a lot of running, most of it jay-running blindly in a mad rush. The kid who plays his son was on loan from the California Home for the Terminally Cute (yes

sinmix, your alma mater). I won't look up his 4-name moniker because nobody will remember it 10 years from now after his parents have invested his hard-earned royalties in real estate and with compounded interest he and they will never have to do a lick of work again. And I won't bother to look up the name of the woman who plays Will's not-as-long-suffering-as-she-could-have-been wife, because they cut her part too short for an Oscar.

Will's character jumps through a series of smaller and smaller frying pans, getting more and more depressing and desperate, as he tows this poor child behind him all the way. The 90 seconds of happy ending don't nearly make up for the 2 hours of suffering. And no easter eggs in the trailers, either.

Lots of familiar character actors in the brokerage, they made one of them look like a junior Donald Trump. And some gratuitous footage of Glide Memorial's choir which I FFed through.

This movie needed an original score - the sound track of random pop songs was spotty and left me wanting more. OTOH, an original score probably would have made the movie even more depressing.

Enuf already. I think I'll play some music to cheer me up. Songs of the Depression should do it.