Will Smith's heartwarming but excruciating-to-watch drama, "The Pursuit of Happyness," is set in the early '80s and is based on a true story about a man trying to make a seemingly impossible dream come true while being a devoted single parent to his 5-year-old son.

When we first meet Chris Garner, the hero of this Reagan-era "Kramer vs. Kramer," he's deep in debt, about to be evicted from his San Francisco apartment and staring at the reality that his latest moneymaking scheme -- selling medical equipment to doctors -- has failed. At this down moment, he briefly meets a stockbroker who drives an expensive Italian sports car and is struck with a new dream of becoming a stockbroker himself. He only has a high school education, but he's "good with people and good with numbers" and knows he's perfect for the job.

When he tells this to his long-suffering wife (Thandie Newton), who works double-shifts at a laundry to keep them going, it's the last straw. She leaves him to work in her sister's restaurant. Though she tries, Chris won't let her take their boy (Jaden Smith).

This is the setup and the movie consists of Chris' struggle to get in and complete a grueling, unsalaried, six-month apprenticeship program at Dean Witter, while having virtually no income, losing his shelter and finally living on the street with his son.

It's a solid vehicle for Smith, tailored to his personality and strengths as a star, and fueled by his utter conviction. And it helps that his real son plays his character's son, because the ease and love between father-and-son is palpable in every scene.

Still, for all its good performances and family values, it's a painful movie to endure. It consists of watching this poor guy suffer one agonizing setback after another for nearly two hours, and its modest emotional payoff comes only in the final moments.

It's out to be an affirmative Horatio Alger parable, uncritical of its era or the Dale Carnegie values of its hero. It wants to celebrate both the sacrifice of its dutiful father and a business culture that demands more than the best of him for success.

But the truth is the movie makes American capitalism (and Dean Witter, in particular) look cruel and inhuman. What kind of sweatshop would ask people to work night and day for six months with no salary and almost no hope of getting a job at the end of it?

And how can you feel good about a man so egotistical he'll allow his child to sleep on the floor of a public men's room before he'll allow the boy's grandparents, in-laws or wife to take care of him? As good as it is in many ways, this script needs another draft.

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