The Pursuit Of Happyness/Big Daddy/About A Boy DVD Drama (2007) James Karen

Description

Triple pack of films with single fathers being the dominant theme. Set in early ’80s San Francisco, ‘The Pursuit Of Happyness’ (2006) charts the hard times and eventual comeback of Chris Gardner (Will Smith), a suddenly single salesman who has custody of his son, but finds that providing for the two of them is a challenge in the increasingly unstable economic climate. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a stockbroker internship where one in twenty has a chance of a lucrative full time career. Together, father and son struggle through homelessness, jail time, tax seizure and the overall punishing despair in a quest that would make Gardner a respected millionaire. In ‘Big Daddy’ (1999), Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler) is a thirty-two-year-old loser who refuses to take responsibility for his life and spends his days watching television in his pyjamas. The day after his girlfriend Vanessa (Kristy Swanson) dumps him, five-year-old Julian (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) arrives at his house, claiming to be the son of his recently departed flatmate. Sonny then mistakenly decides that adopting Julian will impress Vanessa, only to discover that there is more to parenting than meets the eye. In ‘About A Boy’ (2002), Hugh Grant takes the lead role as aimless, commitment-shy, thirtysomething Will in this adaptation of Nick Hornby’s bestseller. Living on the royalties of a hit song his father wrote 40 years ago, Will drifts through life, moving from one relationship to the next with little lasting effect. But when he hits upon the new idea of dating single-mothers, he soon finds himself entangled with the suicidal Fiona (Toni Colette) and her 12-year-old-son Marcus (Nicholas Hoult). As he and Marcus gradually develop a friendship, Will begins to reassess the selfish life he has been living.