Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

One of my all time favorites.

Great Film overall

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I was a bit disappointed with this movie. Probably because I had very high expectations since it was all about happiness and perhaps I expected an answer in the end that is slightly less shallow than the one this movie gives. This movie in the end shows that happiness is when you are with the person you love, your life is not a routine and you have experienced enough to know that that is what matters. Is just that I am not convinced. Happiness must be much more than reliance on another person to feel happy. I do agree that relationships are important. Matter of fact they are the most important thing in life but are they all it takes to make us happy? Its about good relationships rather than a relationship. But Hector had it all along but was not happy. Why? He had open deeds with the past. He needed to know that Agnes was not an option anymore before he realised how much in love he was with Claire. He needed to know that there was nothing he was missing out on. So again happiness is not just about relationships and having them but also realising that what you have is good and nothing out there could be better.

The movie is what the name suggests. Hector is a psychiatrist who has emotions subdued within him. He leads a measured life in his enclosed world. He is an arm chair traveler dishing out worldly advice to his patients and he realizes it. One of his patients is a psychic who suddenly reconnects him to his long forgotten past. This pushes him out of his comfort zone, on to a journey. A journey to find what happiness means. This takes him to China, some place in Africa and Los Angeles, meeting his old friends and making new ones. The experiences help him experience emotions that he might not have thought he would have felt. He enjoys luxury of city life, calmness of monks, helping those in need, coming face to face with death, feeling of completeness with family etc.. On the way he makes notes of things that make people happy. The final list of 15 things is not something that can make everyone happy, rather it is beautifully something that summarizes his journey. If you like the movie, you would be able to recall his journey whenever you read the list. It is a feel good movie, not awe- inspiring one that will change your life in any way. But it shows that you have an obligation to lead a happy life and might move you to seek out for what is it that makes you happy and assures you that its not all that complicated.

I recently watched this movie and thought the critics were a bit harsh. The movie takes you on a trip of emotions and adventure. Hector is an average guy trying to figure out his place in the world. He has a loving girlfriend focused on work and he is a well- known Psychiatrist. The main premise of the movie is that Hector can't quite figure out how to make his patients happy. Fighting this struggle to help his patients, he realizes he himself does not know how to be happy. So Hector sets out on an adventure to truly find what makes people happy.The movie is often compared to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and I would agree. Although there are similarities, there is a much darker tone to this movie. Through life threatening moments on his journey, Hector lives and learns how happiness comes in many different ways. Happiness does not have a secret formula. There a parts that left me confused, but they tied into the overall message of the movie. It often left me question what makes me happy in life.As mentioned before, I believe this movie deserves a bit more credit. This is the Simon Pegg you have not seen before, and he takes you on an emotional roller-coaster. Through continuous messages given to the audience, you are always questioning yourself about how happy you are. A good movie to me is thought provoking and entertaining and Hector and the Search for Happiness did just that. "We should concern ourselves, not so much with the pursuit of happiness, but with the happiness of pursuit."

I love a movie that has a clear story and that captures me from the beginning to the end, displaying a whole wide spectrum of human emotions and reactions in different situations. This one has it all. The story, the actors (chemistry between them is great), the locations... a beautiful work of art. I was captured by the frankness of emotion displayed, by Simon Pegg's goofy way of acting and interacting with his colleagues. The atmosphere of this movie is something to be treasured and I am sure that I will watch it again. It certainly gave me a much needed respite from all action-overloaded Hollywood spectacles competing for the throne of: most guys killed, biggest explosion ever seen, most cars destroyed, most expensive actors in the business used. Big thanks to all of you working on this movie.