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I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This movie it gave me every thing I need, it made me smile, laugh, have tears in my eyes, scared and worried its a prescription to cure and became just smily..its a good movie and the director you will see his marks its well directed film, and Simon Pegg thank you sir ! Go watch it, and have a nice day and nice life

There was a good, perhaps even great, film in 'Hector and the Search for Happiness'. With its concept and cast, it had enormous potential.Unfortunately nowhere near enough is done with the concept and while the cast do all they can all have been used better and all have been better. The concept, the titular character's search for happiness, was a great one, was really intrigued to see what the film could do with something seemingly indefinable (like beauty, love and truth).And then there is the cast, all consisting of talented actors, from Simon Pegg who is a gifted comic actor, Toni Collette who is always good regardless of the material, Rosamund Pike who is one of the most beautiful living actresses around and is far better an actress than she is given credit for (in general she needs bigger roles and better material, as was proved with her incredible career-best performance in the excellent 'Gone Girl'), Jean Reno who is always never less than game in tough guy roles to Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Plummer.'Hector and the Search for Happiness' despite my disappointment with it does have its good points. It looks great, with very handsome cinematography and exotic locations beautifully shot. The soundtrack is memorably whimsical and fitting, there is a moment with Toni Collette that did bring a lump to my throat and Hector and Clara's relationship while clichéd and under-utilised has its moments of sweetness and charm. The supporting cast is also good, despite all of them giving better performances and most being deserving of far more screen time than they actually got (especially Collette and Reno).Rosamund Pike does bring a sympathetic charm to a thankless role that saves the character from being completely forgettable, if maybe a tad too stoic compared to the rest of the performances and the reason why anybody would say that she struggled as a comedienne here (considering what she had she did a serviceable job) is because her comic material was not that good. Jean Reno is appropriately menacing, though his appearance is somewhat brief and he disappears too quickly, Christopher Plummer is very funny (by far the most successful when it comes to the comedy) and Stellan Skarsgård is as confident as he can be. Toni Collette is touching in her far too short screen time, but if you are going to have somebody as talented as Collette for goodness sake don't waste her talent by giving her little to do.Pegg however didn't work for me as Hector, even for a titular character it did feel like there was too much of him and the supporting cast being almost completely side lined. Pegg is a very gifted and likable comic actor, but 'Hector and the Search for Happiness' doesn't do anything with his comic talents and it is incredibly difficult to root for Hector, so Pegg resorts to giving a performance that's both over-compensated and somnambulist, definitely one of his worst (perhaps the worst) performances. How can a film have an actor as funny and charming as Pegg and make his character here the complete opposite? 'Hector and the Search for Happiness' manages to, and it's frustrating.In fairness, the script and storytelling have much to blame, as does Peter Chelsom's bland directing. There is some quite lazy scripting in 'Hector and the Search for Happiness'. The humour, from as early on as the truly idiotic first few minutes, fails to be even mildly amusing, Plummer aside, often cornball and awkward actually. It is also heavy in mawkish schmaltz and clichés, also containing very little that is insightful or thought-provoking, Hector's philosophical musings sounding like they came out of a fortune cookie. The storytelling, for a story with a very episodic nature, is far too disjointed and jumpy with some very jarring shifts in tone that gives off a sense of indecisiveness. It too felt too slight and over-stretched, the actual story seemed thin and the telling of it paced erratically. The concept is practically wasted by that the answer to happiness and the search for it hadn't been found (if the film had it, this viewer certainly missed it) and that Hector hadn't learnt anything, hadn't changed or found how to be happy. The ending also feels rushed, too convenient and somewhat heavy-handed, wanted to feel uplifted and feel good but got neither.The characters are written very badly with Hector being a wimp and idiot for practically the whole duration of the film, most supporting roles being come and go and under-utilised and Clara felt thankless at the end of the day. Even worse are the numerous stereotypes, both characters and cultures, written and portrayed in such a broad and yet trivial fashion that it is easy to see why anybody might take offence.Overall, had potential but had wanting execution. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Well, it certainly is different! But I failed to understand what it's about or even why it was made. So a British shrink wants to get away from everything and travel around the world. "Around The World In 80 Days" was much better story! There are some interesting cinematic tricks here and there. It's interesting to see a few exotic places. But when "The End" comes on screen (and there is a tricky little surprise even there) you wonder about what you've just seen. Was it a comedy? A fantasy? An adventure? A love story? A travelogue? Or most likely, the work of some free spending film people who wanted to have a little fun. The travel budget must have been insane but for what purpose? Despite all this, I still give it a half decent rating because it was refreshing (if puzzling and unrealistic.) Let's just hope nobody involved in this very odd picture actually believed they were writing cinema history. Birth Of A Nation it ain't!

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.