11) The Pursuit of Happyness
Soulless. That is what you’d have to be if you weren’t in the least bit inspired and seriously moved by this portrayal of a true rags-to-riches hero in Chris Gardner. This is no tale of some young thug who got shot nine times finally scoring in the rap game or a hopeless actor landing a life-changing role, this is about how financially low and at a loss a man can get and, despite even being homeless, never faltered from his vision of living a life he believes he deserves. It’s about how the American dream was earned through sheer determination and, at its core, good ol’ fashioned hard, teeth-grinding work in the face of impossible odds.
Will Smith knocked this performance out of the park, perfectly capturing a likable, big-hearted, and unbelievably hard working salesman that wants nothing more than a decent life for his family. Even after multiple viewings, Smith’s key moment of when he finally lands the big job never fails to choke me up. It was through his astonishing and seemingly myth-like perseverance that he was able to make his two-story American dream become a skyscraper-high reality. The man came from sleeping in a bathroom due to literally no other alternative to becoming a more than successful stockbroker and entrepreneur generating millions to this day — surely that should light some sort of a spark in you.
