Has anyone seen this movie yet?

Very powerful and moving. Based on a true story of the real lives of Christopher Gardner and his then 5-year-old son Christopher Jr. in the mid '80s.

Will Smith plays the elder Christopher and his real-life son Jaden plays Chris Jr. Was nominated for several awards.

yes. i liked the movie very much. ALMOST made me shed a tear, which is a good thing

Very good movie. Kryptonite for the left tho. I mean, a black guy pulling himself out of poverty without help from the government? I'm surprised the Democrats didn't call for the movie to be censored.

LOL!

Rasczak is there anything you can't turn to politics?

I like it. So much so, that I saw it on opening day just before Christmas and bought the DVD when it came out!

I liked it, but I didn't find it as awe inspiring as I was expecting.

Sorry, I'll work on that. It was a very good movie, I just don't see how a liberal can watch it and think of it as anything less than conservative whacko right wing propaganda.

Well, for one thing, it IS based on a true story. And it can happen to almost ANYONE. I never even KNEW that there was a true story like this until I saw the previews of it over and over.

And I just had to go see it because my curiocity was really killing the cat!

True stories like that happen all the time. Usually, they aren't very popular.

Spoiler warning:

What I took away from it was Gardner was always trying. Always. He got himself into that crappy sales business, but he didn't give up, he sold every last one of the damn things, and when he hit obstacles, like getting one of the units stolen, he worked at fixing them. He didn't just sit down and say "I'm screwed."

He never accepted bad luck or bad circumstances, he worked at changing them. He looked around him, saw what he wanted, and went after it, no matter what it took. He wound up requiring a safety net and accepted charity, but he didn't decide to live in the safety net, he got himself out of it quickly. Now he's a rich man. His success is providing a living and wealth for other people.

I heard the real Gardner interviewed. He's a great guy - happy, successful, opitimistic, and now he's a very productive person making a huge contribution to society.

Himself AND his son!

Chris Sr. made several cameos in the film as a nameless person walking by Smith and son. He even helpeded with the production crew.

I can REALLY relate to the movie and to the real-life Chris Gardner and his then 5-year-old son!

I've just rebounded last month from an awful almost similar situation where I was in extreme financial hardship and was in poverty, had no job, couldn't ever find one, was stricken from heart failure and being forced to put up with co's playing games, turning me down and ignoring me for employment!! No one would hire me at all!!!!!!!

In the process, I had filed for disability, having had to wait for 5 months, which I was accepted for just last month. But before that, I couldn't even pay the rent, couldn't pay the utility bills, stuff started being shut off because I had no money to pay for ANYTHING, and I was about to lose the apt!!

Had I not been approved and didn't get the retro check, I STILL would have been in that rut and I would have lost the electric and gas service this spring!!!!!!!

Mass Heath coverage had kicked in though (automatically after you file for disability), so I was able to afford my medicine that I have to take for the rest of my life, hospital care doc's apppointments and dental appointments, and I was accepted for Food Stamps.

But all I had to live on was the small pension from two prior jobs - only $540.00 a month!! Not enough to even pay the rent every month.

Getting disability was and is the only thing that saved me and it helped get me out of the horrifying predicament that I was in. I paid up everybody! Now, I'm able to pay the bills and live comfortably without any worries!! With money always in the bank. Life is good for me now!!

But because I have a heart condition, it's rough trying to climb up three flights of stairs to the 4th floor apt., so I have to find an apt building that has an elevator and that houses disabled tenants and allows small dogs. The landlord won't let me have one here, so I'm planning to move anyway.

Best wishes for your recovery. Take good care of yourself.

Thank you so much!

I'm fine now, but I need to move to an apt that will accommodate my disability and will let me have my Bulldog staying with me. We need to be in a building that has an elevator.

That's the only thing left that I need.