YNOT at the Movies

Tonight, I went to see "The Pursuit of Happyness."

I went to see this film not because I am so interested in Will Smith's performance, nor to be inspired by the claimed "true story." I went to see it because I wanna see what San Francisco looks like in the film, especially I ran into their shooting a few times in the city last year.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" tells the story of real life Christopher Gardner, who once was homeless and later became a stock broker. That is, he found happiness.

So, I guess the definition for Mr. Gardner is to become a stock broker or to be rich. Good for him. I wish the movie shows how he becomes happier after he becomes a stock broker.

The movie actually spends most of the time to show how Mr. Gardner struggled to survive with his five years son after they were evicted from their apartment, and how hard he tried to break into the corporate world. I am not sure I would call either activity as "pursuit of happiness."

Of course, I wasn't inspired.

All I was paying attention throughout the film is to identify the set locations. Oh, that's Chinatown! That's Duboce Park! That's Bank of America Building!

So obviously, I was busy during the film, for complete different reason.

I couldn't believe that it's just a few seconds scene when Will Smith ran down a BART station. That BART station in the film is a fake one, and they built it just for that scene.

Last year, when they were making the film, they removed trees and dig a big hole in Duboce Park. Then they built stairs and put up a BART sign for couple weeks.

After the shooting, the hole is flattered, and temporarily removed trees were moved back, surrounded by new sod. All these trouble is just for Will Smith to run down for a few seconds.

Wonder why it costs millions to make a film?

My rating: 4 out of 10.