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Review by: Jack Foley | Rating:
One
DVD SPECIAL FEATURES: Audio commentary by David O. Russell.
Audio commentary by David O. Russell, Jason Schwartzman, Mark
Wahlberg and Naomi Watts. Documentary: I Heart Huckabees production
documentary (35 mins). 4 deleted and extended scenes. 5 outtakes.
Featurette: Miscellaneous Things People Did. Jon Brion's 'Knock
Yourself Out' music video. Infomercials, commercials and PSA's.
Inside Look - Robots behind the scenes with Chris Wedge.
FOR anyone who doesn't know, existentialism refers to 'philosophy
stressing the importance of personal responsibility and the free
agency of the individual in a seemingly meaningless universe'.
It forms the basis of the new 'existential comedy' from Three
Kings director, David O Russell, which had the honour of closing
this year's London Film Festival (2004).
Yet anyone who would prefer to substitute the word existential
for pretentious might just glean a better insight of what to expect
- for this is a film that is likely to divide audiences into those
who get it and those who don't.
The former will probably hail I Heart Huckabees as another work
of bizarre comic genius from Russell, while the latter will probably
be scratching their heads in exasperation over how they came to
waste so much time over it.
I have to say, I lean towards the latter category, for while
brilliant in places, I Heart Huckabees is just a little too existential
for its own good!
The film, which boasts a terrific cast, stars Jason Schwartzman
as self-loathing environmentalist, Albert Markovski, who seeks
out the services of a pair of existential detectives, Bernard
and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin), to figure out
the meaning of a recent spate of coincidences/flukes in his life.
Rather than sticking to that investigation, however, the detectives
explore all aspects of Albert's life, including his complicated
work situation, which uncovers his festering conflict with Jude
Law's blue-eyed golden boy, Brad Stand.
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And it isn't long before Albert is
questioning the essence of existence itself.
Thrown into this heady mix are the likes of Naomi Watts' hot
blonde spokesmodel, Dawn, who is currently going out with Brad
Stand, and Mark Wahlberg's uncompromising soul-searcher and firefighter,
Tommy, who complicates matters still further by joining up with
the Jaffes' arch-nemesis, the sexy French philosopher, Caterine
Vauban (Isabelle Huppert), who offers a different take on existentialism.
Sound complicated? You bet, so if you can't really be bothered
figuring the synopsis out, then the film is clearly not for you.
I Heart Huckabees seems to take a perverse delight in being off-kilter,
so much so that audiences may quickly tire of figuring out what
- if anything - it has to say, while yearning for a straight-forward
conversation from any one of its protagonists.
There are funny moments, including a hilarious dinner party involving
Schwartzman, Wahlberg and the family at the centre of his coincidences,
but they are few and far between, while some of the set pieces,
including a particularly wild sex scene involving an amorous couple
frolicking in a mud pool, just seem to be ridiculous for the sake
of it.
What's more, the film lacks a single character to genuinely connect
to, or empathize with, making it very difficult to care about
anyone's plight.
Schwartzman is just annoying, while Law and Wahlberg (while clearly
having fun in the roles), frustrate as much as they delight, and
Hoffman and Tomlin are just too oddball for their own good.
Even Naomi Watts ceases being sympathetic when her character
opens up, prompting me to wonder whether her casting had more
to do with Russell's need to see her in a swimsuit, rather than
providing her with anything meaty.
Those who connect with its themes and conclusions might draw
some inspiration from what the film has to say, but for this particular
individual, Russell's seemingly meaningless universe remained
exactly that.
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