Summer of Netflix Day 37 - Hector and the Search for Happiness

Joel: This is really the type of movie that Netflix is best used for. It was a movie that I heard about one time before it made it into theaters and thought “Oh, that might be interesting.” before it came and went seemingly without making a mark. I thought very little of it till it popped up in Netflix options several months later. So with no real idea of what it might be about, besides kind of being interested in the trailer that one time, It was nice to see a movie that I otherwise probably wouldn’t have ever gotten around to seeing. It’s not perfect, and does have some serious flaws, but all in all it’s a sweet movie with a positive message and some really good moments. Simon Pegg gets a chance to play a bit more of a quite complex character than the always “cranked to 11” types that he seems to be playing. There are some pretty spectacular locations in the movie, and the writing and drawing on the screen that I thought was going to get annoying very fast ended up staying charming the entire time. I’m glad I got to get a chance to see this one that I would have likely missed otherwise.

Alexa: I wanted to like Hector and the Search for Happiness. I really did. But despite its intriguing premise and the always-delightful Simon Pegg in the titular role, I thought it fell flat in its execution. The camera loves Pegg. He’s extremely likable and he has an engaging screen presence. But outside of his collaborations with Edgar Wright, he’s yet to find a leading role that’s really worthy of his talents. (He’s had some great supporting turns, but I still think he’s got leading man charisma.) Pegg is no less on point here than in any of his other roles, but the film’s script and direction are uneven. The quest for happiness is a universally relatable theme, but the journey in Hector and the Search for Happiness feels more gimmicky than transformative thanks to some awkward narrative devices, like the strange symbolism of Hector’s childhood dog and some oddly-timed animation. That said, this movie did have some genuinely touching moments that proved its potential. Unfortunately, though, it never really finds its footing.

Chris: There’s a list of movies that I had a strong emotional connection with over the past 9 months for reasons that I don’t need to get into here but I’m sure you can find the underlying theme (Interstellar, About Time, Big Hero 6) and you can add this one to the list. It’s not a perfect movie and I know not everybody is going to feel as strongly about it as I do but I really love this movie. I’m typically the type of Netflix user that will have the movie playing but I will typically be playing video games or have my attention divided elsewhere. Basically, this movie forced me to stop all other activity and just watch the movie which is something not many films are able to do for me. Sure it’s for different reasons that movies like Ex Machina or Trance forced me to pay close attention, it’s mainly due to Simon Pegg is so compelling and truly taps into something impressive in the isolation room at the end. Yes there are flaws and sure, there’s a lot of broad, swooping statements about happiness but the point of the movie is that there’s so many different ways to achieve personal happiness and it’s difficult to narrow it down for it to work for everybody. And I know a lot of people are puzzled by the “little boy” version of Pegg observing with his dog every so often and it’s not clearly defined. The way I saw it, and it’s like it was mentioned, he had an immature way of understanding emotions. It’s like he was observing other people’s emotions and was projecting with his reactions on how he should look when he feels certain things rather than experiencing the emotions in earnest. I’m not saying that’s exactly what they were going for, it wasn’t exactly explained so it’s kind of open for interpretation. The film doesn’t get a whole lot of good reviews and I feel like that’s a bit of a shame because this is one of my favorite performances by Simon Pegg.

Your Viewing Homework for Tomorrow: Almost Famous