‘Hector and the Search for Happiness’ finds only shallow observations
There’s a burgeoning subgenre of films about people in existential crisis setting out on a globe spanning adventure to find themselves, to figure out how to really live. These movies are ostensibly inspirational, but for several reasons, they often play out as somewhat depressing. For one thing, they seem to suggest that all it takes to feel alive is a costly globe-spanning adventure. Even more troublingly, they tend to turn the problems and wonders of the rest of the world into just more glib lessons for their heroes to learn. To the ranks of films like Eat, Pray, Love and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, we can now add Hector and the Search for Happiness.