It's one will versus the world in The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a single father struggling to survive and get his piece of the pie in Reagan-era San Francisco. Though it reaches well-earned emotional peaks, this based-on-a-true-story movie frames Gardner's version of the American success story with a counter-intuitive objectivity.

When his wife (Thandie Newton) bolts, leaving him to care for their five-year-old son, Gardner's competition against other unpaid interns to land the sole stockbroker job is dealt a practical blow. The emotional fall-out is secondary. Gardner faces an uncaring society in general. Yet according to the movie's ultimate can-do optimism, this simplifies his plight by paring it down to a case of one strong ego imposing itself on reality. 

Our Horatio Alger hero pushes against forces and confronts obstacles that are neutral -- neither for him nor against him. The world depicted in The Pursuit of Happyness is indifferent. It's America the meritocracy, where Darwinian capitalism predominates and you overcome hardship by hustling and creating your own opportunities. In that sense, the movie is a plug for entrepreneurship and go-getters like Gardner, who went on to found his own company and make tons of money.

Smith narrates as Gardner, reflecting philosophically on his life and explaining the significance of the title's misspelled word. We relive the journey in detail. He becomes homeless and must spend nights with his son in a homeless shelter, and when that's full, the bathroom of a subway station. Two boxy objects -- a medical device Gardner sells and a Rubik’s Cube he masters -- symbolize his perseverance and talent. A modern-day Sisyphus, his rock is a beige bone scanner which he lugs through the streets of San Francisco. The Rubik's Cube craze is harnessed to demonstrate his mathematical aptitude and plot-wise to impress a prospective employer.

The bottom-line: never give up and, as Gardner tells his son, "Don't ever let somebody tell you you can't do something." Ironically, no one actually tells Gardner senior that in the movie. With a few exceptions, people aren't negatively disposed, outwardly aggressive, or plotting against him. Even the thieves are flower children. The Chinese woman running the day care center is blasé about his complaints; the cops that arrest him for not paying his parking tickets are very understanding. Landlords and IRS officials are just doing their job when demanding rent and back taxes.

Issues related to the rise of homelessness in the early 1980s and the lack of a safety net or personal support network are muted. Racism is either fairly subtle, as when the office manager of the brokerage firm has him do chores, or eerily non-existent. Interpreted negatively, this gives the movie an unreal, antiseptic quality. Read differently, the transparency underscores what a hard-knock life this is; emotions have to be mastered and there are no shortcuts or magic solutions.

The path to success is open to anyone with a strong character and tenacity. A people person with a math mind, Gardner is bright, moral and manifestly persistent. He gets bad breaks and takes full advantage of his good luck. He's not perfect, but he's pretty close -- his most admirable trait being that he’s a wonderfully caring father. His religious faith is underplayed, suggested only in one brief shot in which he closes his eyes during a service at the shelter.

Playing opposite his real-life son, Jaden, Smith gives an excellent performance, his most Hanksian to date. He inhabits Gardner with a naturalism that initially seems safe and cautious but which fits with the film's default ideological slant and lack of sensationalism.

Destiny is not determined by skin color, socio-economic circumstances, or anything external to one's belief in one's dream. The only threat to Gardner's success was his own potential failure of will. For various personal and political reasons, not everyone wants to hear this message. But every parent wants their child to assimilate it, in the hope they will achieve happiness. 

(Released by Columbia Pictures and rated "PG-13" for some language.)