Hector and the Search for Happiness (4/10): Not such a happy experience at all

“How many of us I wonder can recall that childhood moment when we experienced happiness as a state of being”

In Hector and the Search for Happiness, you’re more likely to leave the theater with too sweet of a taste in your mouth than actually happy because the comedy is schmaltzy and generic. The dialogue is corny at times, which I can’t say for sure if it’s the screenplay’s fault or the popular novel it was adapted from written by Francois Lelord because I’m unfamiliar with it. I just felt that most of the characters introduced in the film were stereotypical and only served the purpose of developing the story. The plot is pretty simple and straightforward: Hector (Simon Pegg) is a middle aged psychiatrist who gets tired of his routine life and decides to travel in search for happiness. He leaves his girlfriend, Clara (Rosamund Pike), and tells her he can’t help his patients to be happy if he doesn’t feel happy. This is where his adventures begin as he travels across Asia, Africa, and North America meeting different characters who give him different versions of how to find happiness. The first of course takes place in China where he meets a wealthy businessman named Edward (Stellan Skarsgard) who tells him that happiness can be bought with money. He later searches for happiness in a one night stand with a girl he meets at a nightclub. The film practically takes us around the globe introducing us to new characters who play typical roles (a rich businessman, a monk, a family woman, a drug dealer, a volunteer doctor, and an old flame). Along the way he writes the different approaches these people have towards happiness, and I just found it a bit too simple and corny. The film does move along at an interesting pace thanks to the lead performance from Simon Pegg who is always a delight on screen. He has charisma and a sharp sense of humor, but this time he was held back by the script.   

It is no secret that Simon Pegg has done his best work in Edgar Wright films alongside Nick Frost. Despite being charismatic there isn’t much he can do when given a weak script. The film at times feels offensive in the way they portray some of these foreign characters (especially the scenes in Africa). I also felt the relationship between his character and Rosamund Pike’s a bit uneven. At first Pike is portrayed as the perfectly neat girlfriend who is always helping Hector in keeping his routine. She’s kind of like the cool girl from her Gone Girl speech and does everything that she thinks is expected from her. This somehow isn’t working for Hector because he feels unhappy and that apparent chemistry disappears. Stellan Skarsgard, Jean Reno, Christopher Plummer, and Toni Collette are some of the familiar faces that have supporting roles in this movie, but not much is done with their characters. They are only introduced in Hector’s life as a way to give him a different approach of how one can find happiness in life. Some audiences might find the sweet story approachable, but I just found it way too schmaltzy and false. The comedy didn’t work very well, although i did like some of the animated scenes that were included in the film. There is nothing fresh or original about this film and it takes a similar approach as other recent films like Eat, Pray, Love and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

My Review: Couples Retreat (3/10)

¨Do you have a phone? I need to call God and tell Him that one of His angels is missing. ¨

If you never heard that line before then perhaps you will enjoy this movie which consists of familiar jokes and few laughs and several cheesy dialogues. This movie was really hard to sit through and looked much better in the trailers than it actually was. The cast is an interesting one, but the material they had to work with was very poor. Vince Vaughn teamed up with Iron Man director Jon Favreau and Dana Fox to write the screenplay for this film, and all I can say is that they should stick to directing and acting based on this material. Who shouldn`t stick with directing is Peter Billingsley who really couldn`t prove himself in this his first feature film. He has produced several of Vaughn`s and Favreau`s movies in the past such as Iron Man, Zathura, The Break Up, and Four Christmases, so he is familiar with them. Billingsley is mostly known for his role as little Ralphie from A Christmas Story. In this movie it seems as though the actors just found an excuse to get together and have a good time because no effort was put whatsoever in trying to improve the film. The movie was full of clichés and really bad jokes, and even with my low expectations I was disappointed with this film. It seems as if lately many films with a talented cast aren`t really interested in making a good movie, they just want to have a good time and have fun together (Grown Ups was another example). They might have had fun working together, but for the viewers these films are a huge mess.

A group of friends are convinced of going to a couple`s retreat in a paradisiacal island because Jason (Jason Bateman) and Cynthia (Kristen Bell) are having marital issues and want to find a solution to their problems. The other three couples consist of Dave (Vince Vaughn) and Ronnie (Malin Akerman), Joey (Jon Favreau) and Lucy (Kristin Davis), and Shane (Faizon Love), who has recently divorced his wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith) and is dating a twenty year old named Trudy (Kali Hawk). The four couples travel together to the resort named Eden hoping to have a good time while Jason and Cynthia receive counseling. To their surprise each couple is forced to participate in the counseling sessions. There is no time for fun and the activities begin at 6 am with sessions with Marcel (Jean Reno), the man responsible for the couple`s therapy. There are actually two sides to the resort, one in the west for singles who have fun and party all the time, while the one in the east is for couples who are trying to work things out and that is where they must remain even though the rest of the couples don`t think they have marital issues. These counseling sessions bring problems even for the couple`s who seemed to be fine. Each couple has a therapist, played by John Higgins, Ken Jeong, Charlotte Cornwell, and Amy Hill. They also have a yoga instructor who like to wear as little clothes as possible, Salvatore (Carlos Ponce), who doesn`t consider personal space. All of a sudden the tropical island doesn`t seem to have been a good idea for any of them.

This movie relies heavily on cheap jokes that we have all been familiar with in the past and the film really doesn`t work as a comedy. The actors are wasted because the material they had to work with was just terrible. Vince Vaughn was probably the funniest in the movie, but I was really disappointed with the screenplay which he helped write. Jon Favreau has directed some good films as well, but in this movie he just seemed to have his mind on resting and having a good time before continuing to focus on the Iron Man sequel. The supporting cast couldn`t do much to save the movie either. Jean Reno is a funny man, but in this film he had nothing fresh to bring to the table. The same thing can be said about Ken Jeong who was extremely funny in The Hangover and Role Models, but in this movie he simply goes by unnoticed. This is a comedy you should stay away from, don`t let yourself be fooled by the trailers because there is nothing funny about this film. The movie just drags for a long time and is extremely long for a comedy. Skip this movie!

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My Review: Armored (3/10)

¨Not everybody is a hero Soldier boy.¨

(3/10) Laurence Fishburne´s character, Baines, tells this to his partner after a heist that he has been planning with his coworkers. He is right, not everybody is a hero. That is just as certain as saying that not every good actor makes a good movie. This film has a very talented cast, but the script and story were so bad that it made these actors look like amateurs. I really thought this was a waste of a talented cast with such names as Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus in the Matrix trilogy), Matt Dillon (There´s Something About Mary, Crash), Jean Reno (Ronin and The Professional), Skeet Ulrich (Scream), Amaury Nolasco (from the TV series Prison Break), Milo Ventimiglia (from the TV series Heroes), and Columbus Short (who is probably the least known actor and ironically had the main part in this movie). I was really disappointed with this film because I know most of these actors have made excellent films although they are in a slump right now (Jean Reno has had to settle for two appearances in The Pink Panther, Matt Dillon hasn`t made anything noteworthy for quite some time, and Fishburne has stuck with his TV role in CSI). Hungarian director Nimrod Antal who became famous for his local film Kontroll, which received several foreign film awards, now had the chance to make his second American film after he debuted with Vacancy. He has received much more critical acclaim with his Hungarian films than he has so far with these two movies, and perhaps he is not ready to work with such big time actors or he doesn`t have as much freedom as he did with his other films. Whatever it is, he will have to go back to his roots next time if he wants to have a better reception from critics and audiences alike.

The movie begins with three security guards transporting money in an armored truck from one bank to another. Baines (Laurence Fishburne) is the driver while Mike (Matt Dillon) and Ty (Columbus Short) are in charge of loading the money into the vehicle. When they finish loading, Baines tells them to be on the lookout because a suspicious van has been circulating the area. While they are in the truck, the engine suddenly shuts down because it seems someone messed with the gas tank and they end up stuck under a bridge with no form of communication. A black van comes to a stop right behind them and three masked men come straight towards them and put a bomb on the armored truck. The guards have no time to react but all of a sudden fireworks begin to come out of the device which seemed to be a bomb. Baines and Mike can`t stop laughing while Ty still doesn`t get over what is happening. It is all a prank because Ty is new to the job and that is the way his partners welcome him. The masked men are coworkers from the other armored truck, Quinn (Jean Reno), Dobbs (Skeet Ulrich), and Palmer (Amaury Nolasco). After the scare they all go out and have some drinks in a bar where we get to know each character a little better. Ty is a former soldier who has recently lost his parents and has to take care of his little brother. Mike is a friend of the family and promises to take care of them. We discover that Ty is having a lot of economical troubles and is about to lose his house. At first, Ty tries to get his boss Ashcroft (Fred Ward) to give him some more hours, but it isn`t possible. Mike tells Ty about a plan they all have of stealing a big transaction that is going to take place the next day and they want him to be a part of it. It is supposed to be a simple job where no one will get hurt and they will all walk out with a lot of money which just happens to be from the bank that is trying to take Ty`s house away. The heist turns out to go nothing as planned and the action begins.

I was really disappointed with this film because it had so much potential, but these talented actors performed under my expectations due to a weak plot and bad direction. The story had too many plot holes and unbelievable elements, the actors were unconvincing, the action was predictable, the characters seemed to change moods from one moment to the next, and the main character was someone I really didn`t care for that much. This is one of those movies that you forget about a few days after you see it and will have no memory of it at all. There is nothing positive I can say about this except that it is just cheap entertainment. I really feel bad for some of these actors who have much more to offer but can`t seem to find a decent script. Armored is probably one of the weakest heist movies out in the last few years. The film just makes you wish these armored trucks had a GPS system or something so we didn`t have to watch the silly plot unfold.