I Heart Huckabees (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by David O. Russell
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Actor: Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi WattsDirector: David O. Russell
Brand: Fox
Producer: David O. Russell
Writer: David O. Russell
Producer: Dara Weintraub
Producer: Gregory Goodman
Producer: Michael Kuhn
Producer: Scott Rudin
Writer: Jeff Baena
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language); Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of I Heart Huckabees (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: a misunderstood gem
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read most of the reviews here and although there's plenty of stuff I agree with, none actually reflect what I think about this movie. Hence, a review of my own...
First thing to know about Huckabees: It's a comedy and not a philosophical movie. Dont get lost in the philosophies thrown around, they are not that deep and their purpose is to give more background to each respective character...
What I felt was the point of the movie was to try and make fun of our existential questions. Everybody, either in a superficial or really deep way have played with the questions of Life, the Universe and Everything. In this movie you get a large group of diverse characters who are made to do just that: Wonder about life...
You get the French nihilist and the two existential detectives, who have supposedly thought a lot about existence, you get the corporate suit-and-tie guy (Jude Law) who is pre-occupied with success and self-image, his girlfriend (Naomi Watts), a not-so-bright top model who (in a funny caricature way) fights depression, you get a happy Christian family, you get Albert, the enviromentalist, who HAS to know whats going on with his life, Wahlberg, confused and depressed after 9-11...
...in fact at every point of the film you get a glimpse of different personalities, intentionally stereotyped, dealing with existence in their own way... Literally, every sequence is about that, pondering the question, dodging the question, being ignorant or actively denying there is a point to the question at all.
And here's the good bit: Its all presented in a wonderfully light and comedic fashion. The dialogues are really funny (considering the subject) and the performances are absolutely *stellar*. Every actor really serves his role and is utterly convincing as the stereotype Rusell wants to portray...
The movie is really, really smart too. Now, I need to clarify "smart". Not as in "wow, that was really deep" but rather as its really smart in the way it brings all those different personalities together, in funny situations, whilst all the time keeping up with that oh-so-familiar existential backdrop. Because, lets face it folks, we all question life from time to time. This movie is superb at showing a vast array of characters doing just that and whatsmore doing it while talking with each other...
Simply put, watching the "poet-environmentalist", who thinks is really intellectual have a discussion with that christian family at the dinner table IS funny. The point is not following their argument per se (although it is really nicely done to serve that purpose) but watching how the discussion blasts off into a fight, both parties thinking the other is crazy and misguided. And thats a theme that is really prevalent throughout the film. Everybody thinks they got it right and at every step trying to convince the other, the dialogues are pure gold (my favourite being the lamentation of the Spanish old lady and Mark Wahlberg's impatience and petroleum fixation).
Hats off to Rusell for coming up with the idea and the characters and sequences to demonstrate it. And the performances...
As for any deeper meanings? Well, obviously the French nihilist and the two detectives (Hoffman is amazing...) represent two "philosophies", negative and positive respectively. It's not something really deep, more like pop philosophy (although they could serve as a small nudge to read more about them if anybody's interested) and Rusell at the end pulls a kind of ying-yang deal, that both are right and complement each other, which again its not something really deep but it is a valid thought and not just pseudointellectual crap...
Besides, the point REALLY ISN'T about the philosophical meanings, everyone will have an opinion of their own watching the film (about how smart or stupid they are). The point is to sit back and enjoy humans get themselves in a knot (or not!) in a highly comedic background.
Personally, I laughed really hard at many scenes, enjoyed the flow of the story, really enjoyed the acting and directing and at the end, I felt I had seen a great and very different kind of movie.
Can't wait for his next film, so far every movie has a distinctive element and I really like this guy's humour. Great stuff!
Description of I Heart Huckabees (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin lead an all-star cast including Jude Law, Naomi Watts and Mark Walhberg in this outrageous comedy from director/co-writer David O. Russell (Three Kings). Kindhearted but confused activist Andrew Markovski hires a pair of screwball "existential detectives" (Hoffman and Tomlin) to help him find the meaning of life. All the while, a sexy, French author (Isabelle Huppert) is trying to throw a wrench in their plan by seducing andrew's mind and body.Billed as "an existential comedy," I Heart Huckabees is a flawed yet endearingly audacious screwball romp that dares to ponder life's biggest questions. Much of director David O. Russell's philosophical humor is dense, talky, and impenetrable, leading critic Roger Ebert to observe that "it leaves the viewer out of the loop," and suggesting that Russell's screenplay (written with his assistant, Jeff Baena) is admirably bold yet frustratingly undisciplined. Russell's ideas are big but his expression of them is frenetic, centering on the unlikely pairing of an environmentalist (Jason Schwartzman) and a firefighter (Mark Wahlberg) as they depend on existential detectives (Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman) and a French nihilist (Isabelle Huppert) to make sense of their existential crises, brought on (respectively) by a two-faced chain-store executive (Jude Law) and his spokesmodel girlfriend (Naomi Watts), and the aftermath of 9/11's terrorism. No brief description can do justice to Russell's comedic conceit; you'll either be annoyed and mystified or elated and delighted by this wacky primer for coping with 21st century lunacy. Deserving of its mixed reviews, I Heart Huckabees is an audacious mess, like life itself, and accepting that is the key to enjoying both. --Jeff Shannon
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