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The Pursuit of Happyness | 2006 | PG-13 | - 2.3.5

Will Smith stars as a man who struggles to keep the bills paid and the IRS at bay, while helping his young son grow up to be a good person. Tired of their life together, his wife leaves them, while he's also evicted from their San Francisco apartment with nowhere to go. When he does land an internship at a prestigious stock brokerage firm, he and his son must endure many hardships, including homelessness, while trying to make a new life. Also with Thandie Newton, Jaden Smith, Dan Castellaneta and Zuhair Haddad. Directed by Gabriele Muccino. [1:57]

SEX/NUDITY 2 - A husband and wife sleep together.
 A man showers (his bare chest is visible). A husband and wife share a bathroom and the woman is shown in a bra (revealing cleavage and her bare abdomen) and the man wears a tank T-shirt. A man washes his son at a sink (the boy stands in underpants).

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - A man runs into a busy street and is struck by a taxi (he rolls onto the hood, breaks the windshield, he gets up and he is OK).
 A husband and wife argue bitterly. A man yells at another man because he owes him money.
 Two men fight over a spot in line while waiting at a homeless shelter (a boy watches and cries).
 A man chases a woman who steals a piece of medical equipment from him (she gets away on a subway train). A man chases a man and a woman onto a bus to retrieve a piece of medical equipment that they stole from him.
 A man runs and is chased by a taxi driver after not paying the fare; the man's hand gets caught in the subway car doors and he is forced to drop something that was valuable to him.
 A husband and wife argue over money. A wife is angry and verbally abusive to her husband. A man yells at his son when he protests having to leave a hotel.
 A man is held in prison overnight because of unpaid parking tickets.
 Many people (including a man and his son) line up on a street hoping to get into a shelter for the night. A man donates blood for money. A man is put out of his apartment and then a hotel because of not paying. A homeless man lies on a sidewalk and crowds of people walk around him oblivious to the fact that he is there.

LANGUAGE 5 - 1 F-word, 2 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man smokes a cigarette, and a woman smokes in a few scenes.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Homelessness, desperation, love, family, following dreams, financial woes, harmony, government seizure of money, IRS, back taxes, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, trust, determination.

MESSAGE - Effort pays off. Happiness is something that we can only pursue but never really acquire.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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