Miss Sunshine

Chris is barely able to make ends meet through the occasional sale of one of the devices. One day, while downtown he meets a manager for Dean Witter and impresses him by solving a Rubiks Cube during a short cab ride. This new relationship earns him the chance to interview for a stockbroker internship which he is offered, but nearly turns down when the position turns out to be unpaid. Chris is dealt a further setback when his bank account is garnished by the IRS for back taxes. He is unable to make his rent and is evicted from his apartment. Homeless, he is forced at one point to stay in a bathroom at a BART station. He eventually finds the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, which offers shelter to the homeless, but due to demand for the limited room, he must leave work early every day in order to secure a place in line. Disadvantaged by his limited work hours, and knowing that maximizing his client contacts and profits is the only way to earn the one position that he and his 19 competitors are fighting for, Chris develops a number of ways to work more efficiently and reaches out to potentital high value customers defying protocol. Despite his personal challenges, he never reveals his circumstances to his coworkers even going so far as to loan one of his bosses five dollars for a cab, a sum he can barely afford.

At the end of his internship, Chris is called into a meeting with his managers. His struggle has paid off and he is offered the position. Fighting back tears, he gratefully accepts. He rushes to his son's daycare, hugging him. They walk down the street, joking with each other and are passed by a man in a business suit (the real Chris Gardner in a cameo). The epilogue reveals that Chris went on to form his own multi-million dollar brokerage firm.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick Lasalle observed, "The great surprise of the picture is that it's not corny . . . The beauty of the film is its honesty. In its outlines, it's nothing like the usual success story depicted onscreen, in which, after a reasonable interval of disappointment, success arrives wrapped in a ribbon and a bow. Instead, this success story follows the pattern most common in life. In other words, it all feels real".