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Tuesday, January 16, 2007

The Better to See You With, My Dear 1/16

I'm going to fit in a second movie review this week:

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

The plot: A struggling salesman (Will Smith) struggles to carve out a new path in life for himself and his son (Jaden Smith).

This movie is "inspired by" a true story. I don't know exactly what is meant by the term "inspired by." I think it's a little less accurate than "based upon" but somewhat more credible than "we just made this up."
No matter, this is a terrific "man overcoming great odds" story in the tradition of Rudy and Tucker. Will Smith's performance is inspiring, and his son Jaden is good enough that you'd believe he could have earned the role even if his daddy weren't Will Smith. Happyness is like a modern-day Capra film with very little of the corny melodrama but every bit of the charm and hope. Plus, it really helps you put life in perspective if, for example, on the way home from seeing this movie you have to change a flat tire lying in a snowbank in sub-freezing weather because you hit a pothole.
Frackin' frost-wedging!!

My current show recommendation is:
PHAMALy's Our Town at the Aurora Fox Theatre

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