First up, that’s not a typo. It’s supposed to be spelled like that.

Second, this movie should be a disaster. I’m cynic #1 with “inspirational” movies, and that goes double for movies about the American dream, as if the USA is the only country in the world where poor people can make money. So this adaptation of Christopher Gardner‘s recent biography, about how one destitute man chased his dreams and become a millionaire should be unbearable in a Ron Howard at his worst kind of way.

Even worse, Will Smith – the Big Willy Smith who battles aliens, and evil robots and gets fat men laid – takes the title role, getting all serious and actorly. And even even worse worse, Gardner’s infant son is played by Will’s infant son, Jaden Smith.

But Happyness works. It works so well it made my face wet. It works mostly because it’s understated and doesn’t lay on the shmaltz too thick.

As Gardner, Smith shows he can reign in the bravado, or at least channel it to be dignified and determined. His Gardner still has that Will Smith charm, that Will Smith blockbuster smile. But he also has a crappy suit, grey in the roots of his hair and disappointment after disappointment heaped upon him.

Smith Jr. is equally impressive, matching dad for charisma and matching the little brat in Jerry Magiure for cuteness. In a film that leans heavily on the father-son relationship, the nepotism is forgivable because it affords both Smith men a convincing level of comfort.

Other reviews of this film will complain that it’s an arduous repetitive slog before Smith is finally rewarded with success. But that’s missing the point.

His eventual moment of happiness is all the more affecting precisely because it was so hard to come by, and it’s the little moments of relative success along the way that make the difference. Managing to get himself and his son into a limited capacity homeless shelter – thus avoiding another night in the train station toilet – may not be the big American dream, but it’s still a success.

True, the direction – courtesy of Italian Gabriele Muccino (L’ Ultimo bacio) directing his first English language film – is so unfussy it’s almost unnoticeable. But what’s the point in criticizing a film like Happyness for lacking directorial fireworks? I don’t remember It’s a Wonderful Life featuring any bullet-time super slo-mo scenes, but it hurt the Frank Capra classic.