Hector is trying to say something true about a generation of quietly dissatisfied demi-adults who are terrified to take emotional risks. At least it left its comfort zone and tried.
Watched this last night -- in November 2020. My wife just found it on Hulu and it had Simon Pegg so she figured "what the heck?" It was a refreshing film, beautifully filmed, thoughtful, and honestly touching. Came here to Metacritic, curious, and seeing the "29" aggregate from the critics is HILARIOUS. Come on! This is EASILY a 7. The idea that this should deserve a "red" score is laughable, but it seems that even back in 2014 critics' reviews and ratings were already becoming inversely related to how much we enjoy films (something that's only grown more prevalent in the years since this movie came out).
All the sad critics that can't handle the joy of this movie ("schmaltz"? Sorry it's not cynical enough for you...) can **** an egg. Thank you to everyone involved for this slice of goodness. Especially Rosamund Pike. Divine.
Though not everyone agrees, Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” came close to finding the secret for making a movie about the secret of happiness. Peter Chelsom’s Hector and the Search for Happiness tries hard, but fails. Miserably.
Even with appearances by such dependable performers as Toni Collette, Stellan Skarsgård, Christopher Plummer and Jean Reno, the interminable Hector and the Search for Happiness will most likely inspire audiences to search for the exit door.
A case where the critics got it oh-so-wrong. The movie is beautiful in its cinematography, with outstanding actors delivering outstanding performances. Seriously, I've never seen Pegg this good. Respect. The way to story flows is amazing if you've gotten heartily sick of the usual in-your-face Hollywood fare. I was tired and cranky and really didn't want to see this movie, my girlfriend made here and what can I say, there's a reason I call her my better half.
I can honestly say that my expectations were higher and they went on the other hand, the movie is not a real disappointment, but it is a minor job and there are better options on this kind of theme.
I do not really recommend it.
Very stupid, disjointed movie. The screenplay was all over the place, but it was consistently bad. It is a reasonably good premise that never lives up to its potential.
An honorable effort to put together a decent concept was ruined by a poorly executed film and a messy direction. The movie is too long and worst of all, uninspiring.
They should re-name the title of this movie like "Hector and the Search for a better movie".
The story is about a London psychiatrist is in a funk - finding himself as unahppy as some of his patients. He decides on a radical course of action - to leave his sheltered life behind and travel the globe in search of the one thing missing from his life: happiness.
Okay just by judging on the critics score for this film (So far, it might charge later on in the future) 3.5% on RT and on Metacritic it has a 2.9% out of 100. Yeah I could already guess that this movie was going to ****. And after seeing the film I had no idea how bad it really was. Hector and the Search for Happiness is one of those films that feels like a boring and bad day at work for me. I'm also so surprise by the big name actors that actually agreed to be in this movie, I mean why? .
The movie jumps to different locations around the world because of the main character (Hector) which he is search for what really makes people happy. Yeah these Google, Wiki, Youtube, all those web sites that can bring the answer straight to you, because these always people on the damn internet always sharing they feelings. It really isn't all that hard really, yeah you can make the point that he wanted to meet the people in person to know what makes them happy, but I'm only naming out the simple things.
Hector has a character well he's pretty charming and not at all boring, and Simon Pegg dose good in the role. But I didn't think his character wasn't anything special to be honest, he was just the adventure, full of curiosity, and that's it for his character, has I said nothing really that much to talk about with him. Also Rosamund Pike did good as well in her role.
The movie itself feels really bloated and uninspiring to watch. The friends that Hector meet are not all that interesting and kind of forgettable, and I think the blame is from the directing and writing in this movie. This movie isn't really written that well and the directing feels kind of off and a bit lazy with these rush location jumps.
Overall Hector and the Search for happiness is a bland, uninspiring, falls flat on it's face movie that could have been great but wasn't.
Production Company
Egoli Tossell Pictures,
Film Afrika Worldwide,
Construction Film,
Erfttal Film,
Fiction Film & Television Limited,
Head Gear Films,
Metrol Technology,
Screen Siren Pictures,
Wild Bunch