Based on the real life tale of Chris Gardener, Will Smith plays a clever but unlucky father who, is extremely intelligent, especially with numbers, but who just cannot catch a break in life so he is trying to sell revolutionary new Bone Marrow scanners that, unfortunately, are not as revolutionary as Smith believes, while looking to lever his way into a brokerage firm. Eventually his persistence pays off and, thanks to a show of his mental acumen in quickly completing a Rubiks cube, he is offered an internship however this comes at a cost as there is no wage but the potential for a full time position is the dangling carrot and is one which Smith cannot turn down.

Smiths’ relationship with his wife Linda (Thandie Newton) is sparcely touched upon and she seems far too keen to leave with no obvious reasoning other then broken promises and dreams despite working long days in two poorly paid jobs which acts like a bit of a double negative. This leaves Smith to try and focus on his internship, his selling of the remaining scanners and keeping some form of roof over his and his sons head. This is where Smiths performance comes front and centre  as you feel each body blow received seemingly set Smith further and further back each time he gets anywhere close to reaching his goals. Sending him rapidly towards destitution, culminating in a night spent in the toilets of a subway station.

While the biological bond between father and son comes across well on screen the movie is saved by some great dramatic acting from Smith and the storyline that anybody can make it big in life once you stay true to yourself and overcome all obstacles thrown in your way may have worked back in 1981 when the movie is set, in todays cynical world its sorely outdated. This takes away from a good storyline of a man’s struggle to find his place in life which could have been cut by about twenty minutes as there is a lot of time wasted on showing Smith chasing people who have stolen one of his machines. This felt unnecessary as we already know how important the machines are to him and how far he will go to make his sales but overall it’s an average drama movie brought to another level by a terrific heart felt performance by Smith.

DJ Speaks rating: 5 out of 10