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DVD I Heart Huckabees (Single Disc Edition)
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
Review(s): DVD I Heart Huckabees (Single Disc Edition)
Spiritual Guilty Pleasure
"I'm going to go to a further more extreme nothingness on my own." ~Tommy
For anyone who has longed for the lighter side of the spiritual quest, I "Heart" Huckabees presents a playful, yet somewhat naughty look at what drives us, what connects us and what we truly are looking for in life. Although, for the most part we normally accept what occurs as part of life and find ourselves in a state of wonder at the uniqueness of the human experience.
The basics of the story include an environmentalist who befriends an executive as the Huckabees store is in the planning stages. The area they want to build on is considered a wetland and as they both realize they can't work together, their respective worlds fall apart. If you think of this as a story about two individuals on the same pathway to a universal understanding, it becomes much less crazy and rather brilliant in concept.
As Albert Markovsky seeks to uncover the strange coincidence of meeting the same man over and over again in different locations, he decides to hire detectives to explore the true meaning of his existence. The world seems to be conspiring against him as each time he tries to save the world, his efforts are thwarted.
The facial expressions of John Schwartzman in this dark comedy brought entirely new meanings to every line he was about to say or not say (his thoughts are very entertaining). I was normally laughing before anything that was about to be funny. I was so amused by the concepts in the film, that it just became one fun ride of intellectual exuberance that loops you in and then seems to cause an almost "I'm so in love with this movie" intoxication.
The script is untamed in its beauty and exciting as it bounces around spiritual lingo those interested in the nature of experience will completely understand.
The existential detectives collect the empirical data and attempt to form a complete understanding of the hypothesis. Their theory is that no matter what you are doing during the day, it could be key to your entire existence. They are not above listening in to your most intimate conversations or gaining new clients in your workplace.
The comical interplay between Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman is a chemistry of brilliance. Together they form polar opposites that play off each other's most extreme differences. When Dustin Hoffman is completely calm, Lily Tomlin is hurtling herself into the backseat of a car. They work beautifully together to set up a consistent framework for all the other characters to revolve around. When you hire these two to spy on you, they definitely do not stay in the distance. This of course adds to the shocking elements of the comedy.
Jude Law's facial expressions and overall acting was very impressive. As his character, a chain-store executive, struggles with his life falling apart, Jude Law takes on every mood and challenge. He truly gives contrast to his character and his interchanges with John Schwartzman, the environmentalist are at times deeply emotional and then can become slapstick comedic.
There are many scenes to love with the French nihilist (Isabelle Huppert) but I think they did her a bit of a disservice in one adult scene where they could have stopped after the mud episode. The swearing (reason for R-rating) in this movie actually seems to be very much a part of the comedy and there is no nudity in the somewhat gratuitous sex scene which seems more like a metaphor.
With lines like: "You can't deal with my infinite nature," what is not to love? I'd almost go as far as to say, this comedy may give you too much insight into your sense of humor. This is actually a realistic representation of enlightenment and will more than likely be very entertaining if you have read the words "all one" way too many times. If you see an overabundance of coincidence in your own life, I think you are really going to relate.
Lately I seem to be watching everything I love three times and this was no exception. In fact, it could be considered addictive. Definitely a spiritual guilty pleasure.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
www.sportofdistraction.com
After sitting down & watching this film twice in order to ensure that my analysis made sense to me...it's clear that this films underlying theme is political and personal at the same time. Political in the sense that I Heart Huckabees is definitely taking a stab at political ideologues and their inability to see beyond their leanings. And personal due to the fact that it is individuals that ultimately make up any political faction, and it is up to that individual to avoid falling into the ideological trap.
It's clear that at the end, Schwartzman & Wahlberg take a bit of both sides of the debate in order to determine their own boundaries of contentment. For anyone to try and go deeper than that analysis might miss the point, and not see the film for what it is, an attack on blind obedience & followership.
"Look at me, I'm artistic! I'm so meaningful!"
I Heart Huckabees reminded me of that one annoying nerd in high school who constantly tried to get his friends to watch these so-called "complex" and "deep" movies, only to be told that he sucks and should try to get laid. Seriously, I couldn't watch this movie for more than 30 minutes without thinking of shooting myself in the head. Was I supposed to do some reading for this movie? And Jason Shcwartzman (sp?), the most annoying actor of all time, makes it go even further down the toilet. And could someone slow down PLEASE? Let me just put it this way: You know your'e in for a bad ride when the first lines of the movie are a strew of cuss words. Go get Lost In Translation instead.
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