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I Heart Huckabees (2004)
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Movie Review by AJ 
April 13th, 2006
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It is a very rare feat indeed when a filmmaker can espouse philosophical wonderings and rumblings and tack onto that all kinds of existential beliefs, and still manage to create a bevy of realistic characters and wonderful humor without wrapping it all up in a cloth of pretentiousness so that everything is drowned out. That is why David O. Russell, the brilliant co-writer/director behind I Heart Huckabees, should feel extremely proud of himself.
Huckabees, a film weirder than almost anything released this year, has at its center Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), the founder of an organization to preserve nature called Open Spaces. Albert has run into a tall African man (Ger Duany) at least three times to his knowledge and is sure that it is much more than just a string of simple coincidences. Looking for the link between himself and the African man, Albert decides to visit a pair of existential detectives, Bernard and Vivian (the delightful pairing of Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin). They even pair him with his existential "other," a firefighter named Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg). What they end up doing, by investigating and surveying every single aspect of his everyday routine, is redefining Albert's meaning of life itself.
Wrapped up in all of this is the leading national chain of department stores, the Huckabees in the film's title. Huckabees is represented by the egotistical, overconfident Brad Stand (Jude Law), who is sabotaging an Open Spaces campaign for Huckabees. His girlfriend is the renowned voice and face of Huckabees, Dawn Campbell (Naomi Watts). They too become involved with the existential detectives. It seems that no one is free of the desire to search for the truths in life.
What's great about I Heart Huckabees is that it at once endorses the existential belief that everything is the same and also disapproves of it, mostly in the form of Caterina Vauban (Isabelle Huppert), a former colleague of Bernard and Vivian's who used to work for them before she went "bad." It makes light of itself and has a lot of rich, hilarious fun with its topic all the while delving deeper into it and providing the audience with a certain insight that they didn't have before walking into the theater. David O. Russell's crazy oddball humor has never been better, and here he is helped by co-writer Jeff Baena.
Russell's direction is nothing to write home about (though Huckabees is nicely filmed), as much of what is appealing about the film lies in its writing and acting. However, he certainly must be commended for wrangling a truly fine ensemble onto the project.
It is, of course, one of Huckabees' charms that it has well-established actors mixing with relatively newer talents. Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, and even Tippi Hedren (who I must admit I kind of didn't recognize at the time) act alongside Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, and Mark Wahlberg. What's most surprising is that everyone holds their own, and actually find the best in each other, creating some great chemistry.
Hoffman and Tomlin are a match made in heaven, and it's hard to believe that they've never made a movie together before. They have a kind of irresistible comedic attraction, and are more than believable as two people who have known each other for years, and who are madly in love. Plus, it doesn't hurt that they are both absolutely hilarious. Schwartzman is perfect as a meek, likable guy, and has uncanny chemistry with Wahlberg. Albert and Tommy's friendship is one of the best onscreen in years. Watts is funny enough, and Huppert is striking.
I had more of a problem with Jude Law. He definitely does a good job, and this is the only movie featuring him that I actually like, but his American accent isn't entirely convincing. You can hear his British side trying its best to break through. However, Russell does manage to bring out the best in his performers, and Law is no exception. Russell even makes Shania Twain tolerable. Now that is a major accomplishment.
Also of mention is Jon Brion's excellent score, which is very reminiscent of the brilliany yet constantly overlooked 70's British band Electric Light Orchestra, and which helps to add to I Heart Huckabees' overall grooviness.
For my money, the best representation of the film's theme of interconnectivity is a scene in which Brad sits at the head of the table during an office meeting, and to his right is John Rothman, who played the head librarian in Ghostbusters. To Brad's left is Kevin Dunn, who played a guest on Bill Murray's fraudulent talk show in Ghostbusters II. This may have been intentional, or...it may just be that I'm a dork.
Either way, I love Huckabees.
--Courtesy of REELPICKS.CJB.NET--
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