Fri. October 3, 2014
By Gregg Shapiro
Reel advice: Happiness is
By Gregg Shapiro
If you are, or have been, in therapy, did you ever wonder what might be going through the mind of your psychiatrist as you lay (or sit) there recounting all of your tragedies and triumphs? Hector and the Search for Happiness (Relativity) is a wonderfully funny and entertaining comedy that sets out to answer that question.
The titular Hector (Simon Pegg), is an unmarried shrink who lives with his dependable, career-oriented, longtime girlfriend Clara (Rosamund Pike). As a psychiatrist, Hector has a reputation for fair rates and being patient with his patients. This is key to his success and respectiability, because some of his clients, including woo-woo Anjali (Veronica Ferres), the aptly named Pathetic Jane (Tracy Ann Oberman) and the highly unstable Roger (Chris Gauthier), would drive even the most level-headed doc, well, crazy.
Hector leads a safe and predictable existence until an encounter with a woman at a party who raises questions about happiness (and whose pronunciation of happiness earns some laughs) leads him on an unexpected pursuit. Temporarily abandoning his practice, Hector first heads for China, where he plans to go trekking and visit a monastery to meet with a monk. On the way there he meets happy businessman Edward (Stellan Skarsgård), who introduces Hector to a side of the country he might not have otherwise experienced, including an encounter with escort Ying Li (Ming Zhao).
Following his China voyage, Hector sets out for Africa where he is reunited with old friend Michael (Barry Atsma). Michael, a doctor with a bodyguard named Marcel (Anthony Oseyemi), is also happy for reasons that are later revealed to Hector. However, Hector's happiness is seriously in question when he encounters short-fused drug-lord Diego (Jean Reno) and is temporarily abducted and imprisoned by gangsters.
Battered, but alive, following his release, Hector's final stop on his journey is Los Angeles, where he reconnects with old flame Agnes (Toni Collette). Agnes has clearly moved on – she's happily married with two kids and one on the way. A meeting with happiness researcher Professor Coreman (Christopher Plummer) could be the key to unlocking the final door in Hector's search.
Throughout his happiness quest, Hector maintains a journal which includes more than a dozen insights into happiness, not to mention his illustrations (which come to animated life). Until the last 20 minutes or so, when it begins to unravel during the L.A. sequence, Hector and the Search for Happiness is a delight, revealing another side to Pegg's acting abilities. That's a minor quibble, making this a search worth seeking out.
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