I Heart Huckabees Review
by Robin Clifford (robin AT reelingreviews DOT com)October 11th, 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+.
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