Hector and the Search for Happiness

Seen at Stockton Teesside Odeon

Bea says:  Of those that I have read or seen, the reviews for this film have been mixed – but I loved it.  Perhaps it is because Hector reminded me of Cecil, but it was definitely also the key theme of the relationship of change to happiness in life – something that really spoke to me.

This film – not particularly originally - tells the story of two successful, but rather stuck and bored/boring people; the male in the couple (who is a surprisingly believable psychiatrist) decides to research the secret of happiness and travels the world to find it – I won’t tell you where he does find it, but it’s not hard to guess! 

Despite this rather hackneyed storyline Simon Pegg puts in a charming performance as the eccentric but very likeable Hector and his wife, played by Rosamund Pike, partners him well.

It does have some weaknesses in the writing – the sequence involving Hector being kidnapped and imprisoned was too OTT for my taste; what that was trying to show could have been done with a lighter touch, but overall a lot was made out of a story that in the wrong hands (writers and actors both) could have been really cheesy.  The drawing and portraying of the characters as rather cold and stiff – but not too much (Pike) and eccentric and bumbling – but not too much (Pegg) saved it from that actually.

This film made me feel happy for about a week afterwards – it worked for me!

***

Cecil says: Part of me is worried that this rather geeky intellectual type reminded Bea of me, but there is, I guess, something endearing about him, too.

This is a fun film, with some almost Mr Bean touches as Hector sets off on his first flight, sitting next to the rather uptight businessman heading for China. As Bea says, there are some weaknesses to the plot – surely even someone as geeky as Hector wouldn’t be THAT gullible? And the whole section of the film in ‘Africa’ (big place, that) was rather unbelievable.

But as Bea also says, there were many chords struck for our own experiences and our own journeys through life, though thankfully I don’t hold a candle for any old flames myself (the right thing to say, says Bea behind me as I type… but it’s true, honest)

Simon Pegg carries off the role of Hector really well. He’s got one of those faces you think you’ve seen in lots of films or TV, but when I checked his career the only thing I’d definitely seen him in was Hot Fuzz.

A really nice feel-good film, definitely recommended, and I can’t believe more people weren’t in the cinema in Stockton on that Saturday afternoon.

****