I was hoping for an evening of light, quirky entertainment... but what I got was trite, banal, and offensively stereotypical.
Hector begins his journey as a dull, geeky fellow caught in a rut, who wants to see the world, have an adventure, and find himself. The first thing we learn, the moment he steps on the plane, is that without any process of transformation he is actually a party animal and the world's best friend. He goes from stuck in a rut to receiving gifts from billionaires and having parties thrown in his honour for passing through a village. He travels the world noting down greeting- card homilies as if they were the secret to happiness, only to find, to no-one's surprise but his own, the true secret of happiness right back where he started.
All of this would be fairly harmless, though hardly thought-provoking, if it were not for the fact that his journey is rife with cringe- worthy racist and sexist stereotypes.
The people Hector meets and the places he visits are unimaginatively stereotypical, and the lessons he learns are simplistic. China is a place of strange and exotic beauty (and sex tourism). Tibet is a place of wise, jolly monks. "Africa" (a huge and diverse continent!) is depicted in an offensively stereotypical and downright racist way as a place of violence, despair, corruption, and wildlife, populated here and there by simple, poor, happy villagers (who are also up for a bit of sex tourism). Then onward to Los Angeles, where for women, happiness apparently has to do with bearing children -- sorry for the spoiler there, ladies!
Somewhere on line, no doubt, one can buy posters with Hector's lessons on happiness typed neatly below pictures of beautiful sunsets. You know the kind. It's a disappointment that in this movie you couldn't aim any higher, Hector.
Hector begins his journey as a dull, geeky fellow caught in a rut, who wants to see the world, have an adventure, and find himself. The first thing we learn, the moment he steps on the plane, is that without any process of transformation he is actually a party animal and the world's best friend. He goes from stuck in a rut to receiving gifts from billionaires and having parties thrown in his honour for passing through a village. He travels the world noting down greeting- card homilies as if they were the secret to happiness, only to find, to no-one's surprise but his own, the true secret of happiness right back where he started.
All of this would be fairly harmless, though hardly thought-provoking, if it were not for the fact that his journey is rife with cringe- worthy racist and sexist stereotypes.
The people Hector meets and the places he visits are unimaginatively stereotypical, and the lessons he learns are simplistic. China is a place of strange and exotic beauty (and sex tourism). Tibet is a place of wise, jolly monks. "Africa" (a huge and diverse continent!) is depicted in an offensively stereotypical and downright racist way as a place of violence, despair, corruption, and wildlife, populated here and there by simple, poor, happy villagers (who are also up for a bit of sex tourism). Then onward to Los Angeles, where for women, happiness apparently has to do with bearing children -- sorry for the spoiler there, ladies!
Somewhere on line, no doubt, one can buy posters with Hector's lessons on happiness typed neatly below pictures of beautiful sunsets. You know the kind. It's a disappointment that in this movie you couldn't aim any higher, Hector.
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