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Community => Entertainment => Topic started by: iPPi on Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 11:48:08 PM

Title: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: iPPi on Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 11:48:08 PM

True story of some dude in poor financial standing and how he struggled through it with his kid.

Will Smith puts on a top notch performance.

Great movie.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: JacksRag(e) on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 12:04:26 AM

It was excellent.  Very tug on your heart strings.  I was almost waiting for him to go crazy on someone.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 12:47:37 AM

Yeah, I thought I'd watch it, then I realized the guy on whom the character is based is still alive and was like talking to Will about it and stuff.  That completely turned me off.  It's like... oh yeah, please make a movie about how fucking great and awesome I was.  It's one thing if he was dead, but... eh.  I don't know why that bugs me, but it does.  How could any person supposedly so great watch themselves be exalted like that and not be humble enough to refuse?

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: PyroMenace on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 02:45:54 AM

umm, spoiler Que? well too late now. :(

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 06:35:06 AM

Wait... how is that a spoiler?  It's got nothing to do with the plot?

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: ren on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 07:29:50 AM

I haven't seen the movie but I got the book for 50 cents, used at the library. Haven't read it yet though.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: angrykeebler on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 08:00:05 AM

THIS MOVIE TITLE NEEDS A SPELLCHECK

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: ender on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 07:26:19 PM

So Que, you have a problem with autobiographies?

"So I got through this amazing, difficult experience... I'm going to write a book about it,"

Enter Que.

"ASSHOLE!"

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: MysterD on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 07:36:11 PM

Quote from: ender on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 07:26:19 PM

So Que, you have a problem with autobiographies?

"So I got through this amazing, difficult experience... I'm going to write a book about it,"

Enter Que.

"ASSHOLE!"

And this guy the flick is based on is probably making a ton more money and fame, after now also having a major theatrical release of the flick and -- probably even more so now, it's finally on DVD!!!

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: ender on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 07:40:58 PM

Quote from: MysterD on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 07:36:11 PM

And this guy the flick is based on is probably making a ton more money and fame, after now also having a major theatrical release of the flick and -- probably even more so now, it's finally on DVD!!!

"WHAT A DICKHEAD!"

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Quemaqua on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 08:49:03 PM

It just seems to go against the principle of the film.  It's just too much self-glorification for me to take the guy's supposed amazingness seriously.  Do you get what I'm saying?  I don't think he's the devil or something, it just seems like a massive ego problem to say "Yes, please make a movie about my amazing humbleness and willingness to do anything for my family."  Maybe it's just me, but the sentiments seem to conflict.  You'd think if the guy was really so great, he'd have said no to a movie deal.  Then again, I didn't realize it was based on a book, so if he already went and *wrote* about how great he is, I guess that's another problem entirely.

And yes, I realize this doesn't come down to the guy necessarily proclaiming he's the best guy ever.  This isn't the most logical argument... I don't entirely know why it struck me the way it did.  I'm just talking out loud trying to figure it out.  It was just that as soon as I saw that little bit on the movie where the guy was talking to Will, etc., all of a sudden I didn't want to see it.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: ren on Thursday, March 22, 2007, 06:44:28 PM

I respect the guy more for capitalizing on a shitty situation.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: ender on Sunday, March 25, 2007, 08:29:35 AM

My question is when does it say "Look how great I am!" ? Just because he writes about events that happened, and people see him as a good person doesn't mean he's saying "look at me!". Perhaps that just came about due to the story being told?

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Quemaqua on Sunday, March 25, 2007, 10:00:44 AM

Well, is the story interesting otherwise?  It's not like there's a dearth of poor people struggling against the odds to make ends meet in order to provide for their families.  I come across dozens every day at my job.  Really, it's the subject of about 8 billion stories, most of which are entirely boring.  I can't see myself ever having something like this done about myself unless the focus of the tale were on something that didn't rely wholly on a reflection of my personal character, because that reflection would have to be extremely positive for there to be anything worth watching.  As a retrospective on someone's life after they've passed on, great.  For somebody that's still alive... be humble enough to refuse.

Again, I can't fully explain why this settled on me the way it did, and I don't even think in reality what I'm saying is even necessarily true... I'm just trying to demonstrate and explain the feeling that came over me, not argue that the guy is truly an egomaniac.  It just comes down to the fact that I don't feel like I could do it myself without feeling like an ass, I guess.  In my experience, when people tell stories about their depth of character, generally it's because they don't actually have much, which is demonstrated by their lack of humility.  You don't need to chew me out, I don't know the guy, I don't know that such a feeling is warranted, I didn't even realize he'd written a book so I've no idea what that's like, I'm just giving you the impression I got when I saw the clip of him.  That's all.

Why are we still talking about this?

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: MysterD on Friday, March 30, 2007, 03:52:06 PM

Quote from: angrykeebler on Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 08:00:05 AM

THIS MOVIE TITLE NEEDS A SPELLCHECK

Heh, this is like one of first things the actual movie touches on...

(click to show/hide)

....Where Will Smith brings his son to the day care and complains that one of the words is a cuss word and that another on the wall, which is "happyness," is spelled with a "y" instead of an "i" to some Asian man -- who doesn't speak any English to him, either.

I think it was spelled that way in the flick, as a symbol to show that some people just don't care about anything. It's that whole "ignorance is bliss" thing this flick got going on, saying that people should care about things.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: gpw11 on Monday, April 02, 2007, 10:49:43 PM

 "It's not like there's a dearth of poor people struggling against the odds to make ends meet in order to provide for their families.  I come across dozens every day at my job"

I don't disagree with what you're saying in general.  As you pointed out yourself, it's just your opinion on the guy according to how he came across in an interview or whatever.  Fair enough.  It is, however, very unusual for someone to go from homeless to being a multi-millionaire due to what is pretty much their own intelligence and resolve.  That's the unique aspect of the story that people like. 

That aside, I personally don't buy into the philosophy that a story has to be extraordinary in order to have merit.  I personally find some of the best stories to be those which takes something ordinary or mundane and makes it interesting somehow.  Although, like I said, that's something else entirely since there is nothing ordinary about escaping the cycle of poverty on the level that he did.   

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Cobra951 on Tuesday, April 03, 2007, 04:06:52 PM

I watched Woody Allen's Match Point earlier today.  I didn't realize it was his film until afterward, but it did remind me of Crimes and Misdemeanors toward the end.  Anyway, I completely agree with the premise of the entire story, which is stated plainly at the beginning.  I'd rather be lucky than good.  Now I'm going to have to see Pursuit of Happiness and see how much is hard work and how much is blind luck.  If it's at all like real life, both play an integral part.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: gpw11 on Tuesday, April 03, 2007, 04:27:03 PM

It's not a motivational movie in the least really since luck does pay a huge roll in it.  It's not a case of striking it big like with the lottery, but more that type of luck that most succesful people in buisness experience.  I don't want to go into it since you haven't seen the movie, but a very large part of his initial success comes from the fact that he was extremely hard working and had a very very lucky break.  As for the millions of dollars he's made since then, I have no idea.

It also should be pointed out that the guy is known to be very intelligent.  This isn't a movie about just hard work or even luck, both of those play a part, but he wouldn't have done what he did if he wasn't more intelligent than the average person. 

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Cobra951 on Tuesday, April 03, 2007, 04:51:57 PM

I'm not surprised at all by what you say.  My experience tells me that all the intelligence and hard work in the world cannot offset a catastrophic progression of bad breaks.  And conversely, extraordinary good luck can compensate for outright incompetence.  Ever see Being There?

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: iPPi on Tuesday, April 03, 2007, 06:37:35 PM

It is both hard work and luck.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: Cobra951 on Saturday, April 14, 2007, 01:02:59 PM

I finally saw this last night.  Good movie.  It is somewhat inspirational, but also scary.  The effort and determination it took, to do right for himself and his kid.  Kudos to him, if the reality is anything like the movie.  And Will Smith did a fine job too.

Title: Re: The Pursuit of Happyness
Post by: MysterD on Sunday, April 15, 2007, 09:41:46 AM

Yes, it is inspirational -- and sometimes, downright scary.

Definitely is a movie worth the time. And the interaction b/t Will Smith and his son was great.