Credit: www.impawards.com
Co-writer/Director:
David O. Russell
Starring:
Jason Schwartzman……….Albert Markovsky
Dustin Hoffman……….Bernard Jaffe
Isabelle Huppert……….Caterine Vauban
Jude Law……….Brad Stand
Lily Tomlin……….Vivian Jaffe
Mark Wahlberg……….Tommy Corn
Namoi Watts……….Dawn Campbell
Fox Searchlight Pictures presents the film I Heart Huckabees. Written by Russell and Jeff Baena. Running time: 105 minutes. Rated R (for language and a sex scene).
I Heart Huckabees is a very hard sell. Having only seen it once, I don’t know if I fully comprehended the feature film. It is a movie that proclaims to be “an existential comedy.” Right. For 105 minutes I had no idea what I was watching. But I stuck with it. I wasn’t like the older couple in front of me who left after thirty minutes.
Huckabees comes from the mind of David O. Russell. Five years ago his film Three Kings received huge critical praise but did squat at the box office. A damn shame if you ask me. I thought it was the best political satire since Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. With his newest film, Russell is surely to alienate not only audiences but also the critics who loved his previous effort. Even though I didn’t know what I was watching, I laughed quite a bit and I enjoyed the performances of the actors involved, especially Mark Wahlberg.
Jason Schwartzman plays Albert Markovsky, an environmental watchdog and charter member of the Open Spaces environmental agency. He is also a troubled twenty-something-year-old. A Huckabees superstore is about to be built on a woodland area. Seeing that an important marsh is about to be destroyed so people can enjoy the consumer-spending life, Albert and his Open Space cohorts attempt to stop the construction. Although Albert wants to save the forest, Huckabees is the least of his problems.
On three separate occasions he sees a Sudanese man. Not willing to believe the incidents are coincidences he visits a pair of existential detectives. The husband and wife duo of Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman and Lilly Tomlin) take Albert’s case and follow him everywhere. They take notes on how he conducts his everyday life and how he interacts with Huckabees representative Brad Stand (Jude Law), the worst name for a character since the future Mrs. Julia Guglia in The Wedding Singer.
Bernard and Vivian Jaffe’s Existential Detective Agency has quite the track record. In seventeen years they have worked 352 cases. Most of their work is analyzing how reality impacts a person’s life. So, basically, these detectives are life coaches with black suits and sunglasses. The men in black dealing with down to earth universal problems.
One of their other clients (or is it patients?) is Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg). Tommy is an interesting fellow, looking like a guy with constant bedhead. He is a firefighter who doesn’t like the word “hero” associated with his profession. He also hates how the American population burns up petroleum in their gas-guzzling SUVs. His wife leaves him because he is more concerned with the universe than he is about her and the kids. Yeah, but it’s not like he cheated on her with another woman. The Jaffes make the decision to assign Tommy as Albert’s “other.” Neither Bernard nor Vivian explain what an “other” is. It’s just another one of the numerous quirks of Huckabees. It doesn’t matter. Albert and Tommy become friends.
The other story in David O. Russell’s film encompasses Jude Law’s character, Brad. As Huckabees Vice President of Public Relations, Brad brings this sort of sophisticated nature to everyday life. With his pearly whites Brad charms everybody from the boss on down. Heck, he even knows Shania Twain. His stylishness convinces everyone he encounters, but not Albert. Even the activists at Open Spaces want Brad to be their fearless leader. Over the course of the film Brad’s vivacious girlfriend Dawn (Naomi Watts) becomes homely. He also regrets retelling a story involving Shania Twain and a tuna fish sandwich.
I find it disheartening when critics say this film is nothing more than a retread of Charlie Kaufman films (Being John Malkovich, for example.) Yes, I Heart Huckabees is an idiosyncratic film in the same vein as Kaufman’s work. But while Kaufman’s films are complex, there is always some moral to be said.
What happens in this David O. Russell’s film; your guess is as good as mine. Even if I could explain this film, I don’t think anyone would stay conscious long enough to read my ramblings. This film is the type that people will either love or loathe. I applaud Mr. Russell’s attempt to bring forth philosophical ideas and let it play out on the silver screen.
