Maybe I'm just a dick, but I don't think he's a strong character at all. 1) He sees a white dude driving a Ferrari. That's his motivation to get a better job. That's when he decides to change his life. Not losing his wife. Not being unable to take care of his kid. A white dude in a Ferrari. 2) They cut through some time in this story in a way that makes me hate him as well. He sells a bunch of those bone density things -- gets a decent amount of money from them. This would give him the time and opportunity to better himself and take care of his shit -- but what does the movie do? CUT TO: 6 MONTHS LATER He isn't paying his bills. He doesn't have his shit together, nor has he taken a single step to do anything about it. This makes me HATE HIM! Loathe is a better word. Yes, he's in dire straits (AGAIN!) but only because he put himself there through a complete and total lack of action. All the while, he's telling us that he wants to do better for his family, and we aren't seeing any of it. In fact, his not paying his bills despite having been able to raise some money AFTER saying he wants to better himself makes the viewer simply not care. It's just contrivance. We need you to feel sorry for him, so we have to get rid of all his bone density scanners. So he sold them, but procrastinated -- Hey, here's a clue -- START WITH ONLY THE LAST BONE DENSITY SCANNER LEFT! The movie concludes with some halfassed -- "I've been smarter than everyone else the whole time but just never applied myself moral" as he one ups the most Aryan looking dude in the elevator. "There was a back side?" Something we already knew, and they established with his Rubix cube trick in the first bit of the film. This was Will Smith vying for an Oscar. Why didn't it get Academy recognition? Likely has to do with these very issues.

I agree with your notes. I think that this movie manipulates the audience (in the wrong way) into cheering for Chris simply because the movie demands it.