Hector then ventures into the mountains and visits a monastery, where he befriends their leader and talks briefly with Clara via Skype.

Hector departs on a terrifying plane ride to Africa, where a woman invites him to her family's house for sweet potato stew, and gives him a book about happiness written by one Professor Coreman.

With a gun pointed at his head, Hector asks if he can make one final note in his book about what brings his captors happiness.

Agnes and Hector check out a project Coreman has been working on, which monitors brain activity in real time and how it reacts to different emotions.

Agnes is instructed to go into an isolated room and think about three things: times when she was happy, sad and scared.

When Hector takes his turn, he thinks about Clara marrying someone else, about his time being kidnapped, and about Ying Li, but his emotions are strangely blocked.

Suddenly Hector's brain scan erupts with a flurry of activity, mimicking the colored flags from the monastery and revealing that true happiness isn't just one emotion; it's all of them.

[6] German actress Veronica Ferres also joined the film, playing a clairvoyant who has lost her ability to see into the future.

[8] On 2 April 2013, Toni Collette and Jean Reno joined the cast of the film, along with Jakob Davies.

The consensus states, "Simon Pegg remains as charming as ever, but Hector and the Search for Happiness drowns his appeal in schmaltz.

"[17] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 29 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".