25. Hector and the Search for Happiness

25. Hector and the Search for Happiness

Critic score: 29/100 - User score: 8.6/10 - I thought everyone loved Simon Pegg, including critics. I guess Britain's golden boy can't always make hits. In 'Hector and the Search for Happiness,' Simon Pegg plays a middle-aged guy looking for meaning and happiness in his life. Aren't all middle aged men looking for this? Isn't it something all of them can relate to? Maybe the middle-aged male critics felt this hit too close to home, and the female critics just didn't get it. Who knows, but it didn't slow Simon Pegg down one bit.

What critics said: "The film aims for twee, but lands on torturous. It's narcissism blown up to a global scale, in the guise of a quirky voyage of self-discovery." Anytime something tries to be twee, I'm out. I don't like the word. I don't like what it means. I don't like what it feel like rolling off my tongue.

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Did You Know...

I

Chefs made their way into celebrity land a while ago. But how many celebrities that weren’t trained as professional cooks are actually whizzes in the kitchen? Here are several that come to mind.

II

Actress Julia Roberts is confident about her cooking skills. “I’m quite a good cook,” she told E! News. “I’m like a closet home ec teacher…I can really cook anything.” Roberts has said she often cooks fish for herself and her kids. And speaking of her three children, “They think that I’m a good cook,” Roberts told People. “They actually told me that I should open a restaurant.” She also relishes cooking for the holidays, particularly shredded Brussel sprouts. Roberts hasn’t published a cookbook, but we did find recipes attributed to her for peach crisp and banana hemp muffins. Or you can make the same summer salad the actress supposedly eats.

III

Chrissy Teigen started off as a supermodel. Then her love of cooking filtered into her professional life too. At this point, she’s created recipes for a limited Blue Apron release and also just launched her own home and cooking line at Target named “Cravings,” after the two cookbooks she’s released. Teigen describes cooking as “a time of peace” for herself. So maybe peace out to her tuna melt sandwich or the fried chicken wings that are a favorite of her husband, John Legend.

IV

Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, comes from a cooking Italian family. Her father started his own restaurant in New York and also published a cookbook. And apparently, Lady Gaga has inherited the family’s cooking genes. Her Instagram account occasionally features photos of her culinary activities. Sure, sometimes it’s topless cooking. But other times it’s more poignant like in the post she shared about her bringing food to the family of her dear friend who passed away. Want to try a Gaga/Germanotta family favorite? Check out her recipe for whole wheat pasta with a sweet fennel sauce.

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