Hector and the Search for Happiness * (2014, Simon Pegg, Rosamund Pike, Toni Collette) – Movie Review

A tired-looking Simon Pegg plays menopausal psychiatrist Hector, who selfishly abandons his lovely girlfriend Clara (Rosamund Pike), whom he is very lucky to have, and searches the globe to find the secret of happiness.

Though she’s not good enough for him to actually stay with her and care for her, he thoughtfully Skypes her from time to time to string her along, while telling her of his progress. What real woman would put up with this behaviour for a moment? Hector ends up in Los Angeles, where he meets his old flame Agnes (Toni Collette) and the very important Professor Coreman (Christopher Plummer), and his life crisis is of course resolved.

The movie can’t seem to make up its mine whether to be a comedy or a drama, and it fails in both. The ‘funny’ bits aren’t funny and the fake profundities of its serious segments are embarrassing. There’s far too much of Pegg, the sections with the always welcome Stellan Skarsgård and Jean Reno aren’t the guaranteed fun you’d expect, while the charming Pike, Collette and Plummer are wasted.

So were two hours of my life. I’m afraid I found even 20 minutes of this weary movie very hard to sit through. Calling this the male Eat Pray Love or comparing it with the work of Wes Anderson do Hector and the Search for Happiness no favours. And I can’t resist saying that the normally funny and likeable Simon is this time a square Pegg in a round hole.

On the plus side, it’s cast with some favourite actors, there’s a very handsome production, it’s adeptly made by director Peter Chelsom and it means well.

Chelsom co-writes the screenplay, adapting François Lelord’s novel Le voyage d’Hector ou la recherche de Bonheur.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Movie Review

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