sergelamarche This film came out to me as forced and formulaic. The lessons accumulates a bit too well and quickly to work out except for a couple of them that still sounded real, expecially the bit with the ex-girlfriend. It's strange that a psychiatrist would not know better about happiness, with all the studies about it. This film is more of a mid-life crisis needing a resolve. It's a bit overacted with the actual girlfriend that acts like a little girl but Rosamund is so damn cute and fun. Passable with good bits and not so good bits.

Rob-O-Cop Don't get me wrong, there were bits in this movie that were well done, but a lot of it rang hollow. Toni Collette's tear-down of Hector was good (but not much else about her character), Rosamund Pike's warmth, some other details, but then there was this creeping edge of ad agency feel good that undermined any real heart to the movie. He went to China not Tibet? He stays at the Marriott? Travels First Class, his paid for call girl takes him to a street cafe in a poor area? Why? A lot of it didn't add up but looked good for the camera. Some of the scenes were acted well and some of them rang very hollow. Ultimately for the subject the of honest happiness the shallow result left a bad taste.

Tanuj Poddar 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.

bbradle-44496 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."