Hector and the Search for Happiness (Peter Chelsom, 2014)

Simon Pegg uses up yet more of the goodwill he built up through Shaun of the Dead and its lesser successors in the humdrum story of a psychiatrist going on a globe-trotting story of self-discovery. Along the way, no broad national cliche from serene Chinese monks to brutal African warlords is left unused and a strong supporting cast is woefully squandered on spouting platitudes and worn-out aphorisms.
This is a film in the 'heart-warming life lessons' genre for the American market in the clothing of a British one. Besides the asininity of its self-help book content, this is evidenced by constant use of U.S. idioms such as 'skank' and footnotes within the dialogue to explain terms to the target audience, not to mention the story ending up in Los Angeles and a conviction that a happy ending can't exist without material wealth. Pegg remains an affable sort and therefore you may keep on watching simply through a sense of magnanimity that he engenders, along with the insertion of Michel Gondryesque fantastical cutaways, but the syrupiness really does become unbearable before too long.

3/10