Review: I Heart Huckabees (2004)

"I Heart Huckabees"

David O. Russell begin filmmaking life with his
off-beat incest comedy, "Spanking the Monkey," then
went on to his journey of search and discovery of
one's roots in "Flirting with Disaster." He shunned
his independent feature roots when he took on the
Hollywood big budget Gulf War (the first one) epic
with "Three Kings." Russell returns to his indie film
days with an existential detective comedy that tries
to answer the questions of life in "I Heart
Huckabees."

Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) is the
poetry-spewing director of the environmentally
conscious Open Spaces Coalition and is doing his part
to save the fast dwindling local rural environment.
The intense character experiences a series of
"coincidences" when he repeatedly runs into Steven
Nimieri, dubbed "the African Guy (Ger Duany), for no
reason." Another coincidence occurs when Albert goes
to a swanky restaurant and must wear the provided
sports jacket. In the pocket he finds the business
card for Vivian Jaffe, Existential Detective, and
contacts her for help in explaining the chance
meetings with Steven.

Vivian introduces Albert to her husband and partner,
Bernard Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman), and the pair of
ethereal gumshoes invades the young man's life. Their
plan is to dismantle Albert's life, and the fear it
contains, and show him "the blanket truth" that links
everything in the universe together. To these nutty
detectives, there is no coincidence - everything is
linked together, somehow.

Meanwhile, Albert's position in Open Spaces is being
challenged by Brad Stand (Jude Law), the handsome,
ambitious, corporate ladder-climbing exec in the giant
department store conglomerate, Huckabees. Their
conflict builds quickly when Brad hires the Jaffe's
for his own dismantling. This conflict of client
interest draws the attention of the detectives' former
protégé and now opponent, Caterine Vauban (Isabelle
Huppert), who spouts a philosophy of disconnect
diametrically opposed to the Jaffe's.

"I Heart Huckabees" is an enigmatic film that wears
its philosophical heart (pun intended) on its sleeves
while steeping itself in a great deal of silliness.
The tongue-in-cheek dialogue is voiced with an earnest
fun that keeps things low-key but tense. Albert is an
excitable idealist who is the antithesis of his rival,
the coolheaded and pragmatic Brad. But, they are
really two sides of the same coin and the plotting
Brad begins to see his own life really is in need of
dismantling.

The cast of "Huckabees" is better than the material
they are given. Jason Schwartzman gives his Albert an
angst-ridden persona that desperately needs answers to
his deep questions. Albert's sudden, frustrated
swear-laden outbursts are just the tip of the iceberg
of his frustration with life. Dustin Hoffman gives a
deadpan performance as the philosophizing detective
with all of the answers to Albert's questions, at
least in the detective's mind. Lily Tomlin gets
mileage out her intensely low-key performance that
would put her in good stead with Jack Webb in the old
"Dragnet" TV series. Jude Law has fun with his Brad
and uses his handsome looks and winning smile to good,
if underutilized, effect. Isabelle Huppert flashes her
saucy Frenchness as the opposition party. Naomi Watt
does not show the stuff she displayed in her American
debut, "Mulhulland Drive," though her role as the
spokesperson for Huckabees feels like an add on. Mark
Wahlberg gets the most out of his working class
fireman, Tommy Corn, who has eschewed fossil fuels and
bicycles to his firefighting assignments. He and
Schwartzman spark a good deal of male-bonding
chemistry.

David O. Russell doesn't seem to know where he wants
to go with his career if you take "I Heart Huckabees"
as his next step in filmmaking. The success and budget
of "Three Kings" appears to have given the helmer a
taste for bigger things – the prestigious cast for the
silliness of "Huckabees" is an indication – but wants
to get back to his roots. I'm not sure he can have it
both ways and the result is a sometimes amusing, mild
mannered philosophical comedy that is, in the end,
shallow. I give it a C+.

==========
X-RAMR-ID: 38793
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1326845
X-RT-TitleID: 1136990
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: C+