I kind of thought that this movie should be titled "The pursuit of hard cash", rather than of happiness, so was pleased to find a review of this stockbroking movie, by a stockbroker:

Will Smith's movie The Pursuit of Happiness opened at cinemas last week and has a premise so preposterous that it may win the prize of most absurd film of the decade.
The film is apparently based on the true story of some guy who decided that the way to gain the respect of his son and achieve happiness was to become a stockbroker!  My goodness, did he not consider more plausible alternatives like joining the Foreign Legion or becoming a crack dealer?
 
I have to admit that I haven't actually watched this film.  Really because as an actual stockborker, I 'aint got the time.  And herein lies the main problem with this schmaltsy hokum.  In the movie trailer you see Will promising that unlike him, his children were 'gonna know who their father was'.  Well, someone should have pointed out that if you do become a stockbroker, it's unlikely you'll get to see your children.  I've lost count of the number of my colleagues who complain their kids hardly know them due to long hours - it's about the same as the number who attribute divorces to excessive work.

The second absurd premise is that being a stockbroker is likely to result in happiness.  A recent study has shown tha t US stockbrokers are four times more likely to be clinically depressed than the average male, and those who were the most depressed made the most money. 

If you want a chance of enjoying yourself, do anything apart from go watch this film (except applying to be a stockbroker, of course).