Martin's Musings

On the way home after seeing The Pursuit of Happyness, I was trying to come up with a better, more appropriate title for the movie.

You see, not only does the title — with that too-obvious misspelling — not really fit, but it’s also kind of a misnomer because the movie isn’t really all that happy.

In fact, it’s kind of a drag.

Happyness tells the true-life story of Chris Gardner, who, determined to raise his five-year-old son on his own, struggles to make ends meet by selling an overpriced piece of medical equipment while taking part in an upaid internship at Dean Witter.

At one point, Gardner has no money to his name and is forced to stay with his son overnight in the men’s room of a subway station. But this is an inspirational story, so it’s not giving anything away to say things work out in the end. It’s just that that part of the story is at the very end, and it takes a long time to get there. Continue reading →