I have seen Hector and the Search for Happiness on my Netflix suggestion for a while, and since Simon Pegg is in it I’ve been planning on watching it. I’m a big fan of philosophy and existential questions in general and this film explores the idea of what it means to be happy. The film features some great moments but has a few scenes that are bit odd placing this film into the Decent Watch rating.
Hector (Simon Pegg) is a psychiatrist that is finding life to be a bit mundane and it’s causing him to need an escape. He decides to go on a global search asking people about happiness and how they obtain it and meets some interesting people along the way.
Pegg is fantastic and charming as always. He has a few moments where the he gets extremely angry and his interaction during those scenes is quite entertaining. If you’re a Simon Pegg fan then this film will at least entertain you for those reasons. Other cast members include Rosamund Pike, Tracy Ann Oberman, Jean Reno, and Stellan Skarsgard. They show up and leave as Pegg travels with the exception of Rosamund Pike who plays Clara, Hector’s girlfriend.
For the most part, I really enjoyed this film. My friend pointed out the similarities to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but this film does stand on its own. The two main characters are both looking for something, but the lessons learned are definitely different. I felt there were some very good lesson learned and a lot of the things Hector writes in the journal are often responses people give to the idea of being happy. The idea of not appreciating what you have until you see what it’s like to not have it is heavy in this film.
There’s a scene where Hector finds himself in a dire situation that makes sense yet feels a bit out of place in the film. Later in the film there is another author tackling the subject of happiness and is using this device to see a visual map of the brain and the emotions within. I’m not sure if any of the science is accurate, but it feels a bit on the nose for the ending of the film. Even with those scenes Pegg is able to make it work and the story isn’t lost.
I could have easily rated this a bit higher, but it’s a movie that I think weighs heavily on the viewer’s enjoyment of Simon Pegg. For me, there are few people I prefer to watch in a comedy with substance. He always delivers and I find his humor genuine.
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