"Hector and the Search for Happiness," a film adaptation of French psychiatrist Francois Lelord's book, received a slew of mixed reviews from various publications.
The film, which stars Simon Pegg and Rosamund Pike received a one out of five star rating from the Vancouver Sun.
Vancouver Sun noted how the film failed to find the secret to happiness, when that should have been its central plot.
"It might be naïve to expect to find the secret of joy in a 114-minute comedy, but a title like Hector and the Search for Happiness can raise one's hopes - alas, only to dash them again. The only thing I found in this self-satisfied travelogue was nausea, as if I'd eaten an entire barrel of fortune cookies with the fortunes still inside them."
The Detroit Free Press wrote, "Every Walter Mitty seems to think that all that answers lie in an effort to eat, pray and love your way through a lot of stamps on your passport. The movies spun from this idle, indulgent conceit are always self-satisfied excuses for movie stars and producers to span the globe for a working vacation."
Freep added, "Which brings us to Hector and the Search for Happiness, a glib and overly long tale of a frustrated London psychiatrist who sets out to do research to ostensibly help his patients, who are getting no happier under his care."
"Still, none of this adds up to the catharsis the quest promises or the comedy the film supposedly is. Hector might have been better off staying at home and reading a book, which is also pretty solid advice for the film's potential viewers," the review concluded.
Philly noted, "The lesson is simple. Ignorance is bliss. It's OK to be happy, to have a good time while ignoring how your actions hurt others. I'll take misery over the sort of happiness sold by Pegg's lame movie."