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I Heart Huckabees
by Peter Sobczynski

October 9, 2004

1/2 (out of 4 stars)

FILM CREDITS: Written by David O. Russell & Jeff Baena. Directed by David O. Russell. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Huppert, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts. Rated R

A mere review of David O. Russell’s "I Heart Huckabees" somehow seems inadequate-this is the kind of film that requires something along the line of a full academic symposium to fully do it justice. Perhaps the most absurdly off-beat American comedy in recent memory to spring from someone not named Charlie Kaufman, it spins the kind of dizzyingly daft tale that is liable to entrance as many viewers as it enrages. However, I suspect that even those who don’t find themselves succumbing to its charms (believe me, this is one of those films that will sharply polarize audiences) will find themselves impressed by the sheer audaciousness of the material and strangely pleased by the fact that such a distinct film could be conceived, financed and distributed in the increasingly cookie-cutter world of Hollywood filmmaking; if something like this can get made, perhaps there is hope for the art form after all despite the existence of "Raise Your Voice".

The film stars Jason Schwartzman as Albert, an environmental activist who is desperate to know the meaning of...something. After a series of coincidental encounters with a Sudanese doorman, he becomes convinced that if he can figure out how this person ties into his own life, he can somehow answer all the big questions about life and his place in the universe. To achieve that goal, he hires the services of the Jaffes, a couple of so-called "existential detectives"-metaphysical gumshoes who will observe every facet of their clients lives in order to understand who they really are. Vivian (Lily Tomlin) does the external work-following Albert at home and at work to view his daily life-while Bernard (Dustin Hoffman) concentrates on the internal-he tries to illustrate with a blanket how everyone in the universe is somehow connected to one another; "Everything is the same, but different" is his mantra.

The detectives soon determine that the key to Albert’s mystery is his conflict with Brad Stand (Jude Law), a rising young executive for the Huckabees superstore chain who is planning to co-opt Albert’s environmental group in order to score some good publicity for the corporation. In an attempt to subvert this, Brad hires the couple himself to investigate his own life, a move which backfires when his spokesmodel girlfriend Dawn (Naomi Watts) begins to have he own existential crisis-how can someone be thought of as more than just a pretty face when being a pretty face is her actual profession? Meanwhile, the Jaffes have hooked Albert up with another client, a disillusioned firefighter (Mark Wahlberg) who is growing increasingly disaffected with both the world around him and the Jaffes approach to the world. He thinks he has found an answer in the teachings of Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert), a former associate of the Jaffes who now preaches chaos and nihilism, and encourages Albert to join him in following her ideas. Is she an enemy of the Jaffes or is she merely one more element to their investigation?

This is enough plot for several different movies (I see that I haven’t even mentioned the way that Shania Twain-yes, the actual Shania Twain-fits into the proceedings) and I suspect that I may have made "I Heart Huckabees" sound a lot more straightforward than it actually is. This is only David O. Russell’s fourth film and while he has hardly shied away from odd inspirations for his comedies ("Spanking the Monkey", "Flirting With Disaster" and "Three Kings" have mined such less-than-promising subjects as incest, adoption and the Gulf War for humorous material), but "Huckabees" is peculiar even by his standards-it plays as if it were written by Thomas Pynchon and directed with the breakneck pacing of a "Bringing Up Baby"-era Howard Hawks. There is always a danger with material like this that the more out-there aspects can sometimes seem a little forced-as if the film was trying to be weird simply for the sake of being weird-but the amazing thing about the screenplay cooked by Russell and co-writer Jeff Baena is the way that it manages a consistent tone throughout. The humor ranges from broad physical gags (Albert planting a tree in the parking lot of Huckabees) to incisive social satire (a confrontation between Tommy and the Sudanese doorman’s smug adoptive family) to outright strangeness (a little old lady who appears, in Vivian’s words, as "a spiritual petit four") and yet it all seems to a part of an organic whole than just a random collection of gags.

If there is a flaw to the film, it is the fact that Russell starts off at such a high level that he really doesn’t have much of anywhere to go. Instead of building, it pretty much remains on that same level throughout and after a while, the proceedings become somewhat repetitive. That said, you will be so distracted by the hilarious dialogue, spot-on performances (everyone has brought their A-game this time around and Hoffman and Tomlin, in particular, haven’t been this memorable in a long time) and the heated post-film discussions that are sure to be inspired by the various occurrences that you will hardly notice the relative drop-off in the final reels. "I Heart Huckabees" is a clever and intelligent comedy that has a lot on its mind and, in a refreshing change from most other comedies of late, isn’t afraid to prove it.

-- PETER SOBCZYNSKI

Copyright © 2004 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.