I enjoyed this ‘based on a true story,’ Will Smith vehicle about Chris Gardner, a struggling bone density machine salesman, as he tries to take care of his family and, after his wife leaves, his son while risking all to make an unlikely career leap into becoming a stock broker. For some weird reason (and I don’t know why) this film really disturbed and affected me. I empathized with his struggles so much that it actually confused and surprised my daughter. I found it hard to watch in an utterly irrational way, that is to say, far more than it should have. It’s basically a story of overcoming adversity through one’s own effort and is something of a mini-ad for market capitalism, but heh, it worked as a film. Smith’s son, Jaden, plays his film son and is very good if precocious (a down for any film with kids). I’m a sucker for old-style filmmaking like this, although the idea that the system actually works and justly rewards those who struggle pisses the hell out of me. It ain’t often the case