“If he realises how bad my English is, I’m fucked!” So thought Italian Gabriele Muccino when Will Smith chose him to helm this Reagan-era rags-to-riches yarn. For Chris Gardener (Smith), ‘happyness’ is a red Ferrari but, thanks to Muccino, his true-life story – enduring homelessness with his young son (Smith’s real-life sprog Jaden) while striving to become a stockbroker – is genuinely heartening. The making-of’s titled ‘An Italian Take On The American Dream’: despite bringing an outsider’s perspective to the much-eroded ideal, Muccino doesn’t diss it. The director’s English is more beguilingly broken than bad, and any cracks in the chat-track are papered by his wired energy and colourful turn of phrase.
DVD Extras: Director's Commentary, Making Pursuit: An Italian Take On The American Dream, Father and Son: On Screen and Off, The Man Behind The Movie: A Conversation with Chris Gardner, Inside the Rubik's Cube.
