The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

The Pursuit of Happyness is a 2006 American biographical drama directed by Gabriele Muccino, based on the true story of Chris Gardner. Will Smith stars as Gardner, a struggling San Francisco salesman who invested his family's savings in portable bone density scanners that prove nearly impossible to sell. As his wife leaves him, his car is impounded, his bank account is seized, and he is evicted from his apartment, Gardner and his five-year-old son Christopher, played by Smith's real son Jaden Smith, descend into homelessness while Gardner pursues an unpaid internship at the prestigious Dean Witter brokerage firm — competing against 20 other candidates for a single paid position.

The casting of Will Smith and his real son Jaden gave the central relationship an authenticity that no amount of acting could replicate, and their genuine affection was the film's most powerful element. The bathroom scene, in which Chris and Christopher spend a night locked in a subway restroom while Chris silently cries and holds the door shut against someone trying to enter, was one of the most emotionally devastating sequences in Smith's career. Will Smith earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for a performance that required him to strip away his characteristic charisma to portray genuine desperation and humiliation.

The film earned $307 million worldwide on a $55 million budget.