I Heart Huckabees

This is in no way a great comedy, but it deserves credit for sheer lunacy. Zany, eccentric, absurd, goofy - I could pile on the adjectives. It is completely sui generis, which is probably a good thing. It focuses on Jason Schwartzman, a young activist and department store marketer (or something like that), who approaches an existential detective agency for help in making sense of his life. He battles it out with his boss, sales executive Jude Law and, well, the madness just goes on and on.

This film was amazing. I'm still not sure if I've completely figured it out, but I thoroughly enjoy the attempt. The entire trip was something fully unexpected from the barrage of F-bombs that makes up the first five minutes to the alluded to (but nonetheless unexpected) cameo of Shania Twain. It's near impossible to explain what the film is actually about in this space, so you'll have to settle for this: The always hilarious Lily Tomlin and the wonderful Dustin Hoffman play a couple of "existential detectives" hired by Jason Schwartzman (in perhaps his best role) to investigate a series of "coincidences" involved a very tall African man. Schwartzman is the head of an environmentalist group trying to make a deal with the Huckabees department store to save a marsh (Jude Law plays the Huckabees exec and Naomi Watts his wife--a Huckabees commercial model). Mark Wahlberg shows one of his best performances thus far as a fireman who has also hired the "existential duo" for help with the Big Questions. Jon Brion provides yet another truly original score (not as eccentric and beautiful as Eternal Sunshine, but definitely more involved than Punch Drunk Love). In short, this film is a masterpiece for everyone involved.

Giving credence to the phrase "everything old is new again." I HEART HUCKABEES is a pleasing throwback to the 1960's. Not unlike Mike Myers's pop-edelic Austin Powers sagas, HUCKABEES is as much a taste of nostalgia as it is a pleasurable respite from the blood-soaked Quentin Tarantino legacy of the 1990's (which fittingly enough is little more than a dirtied up version of the tough-guy B-movies of the 1950's).

At any rate, HUCKABEES is a clear descendant of films like MORGAN!, LORD LOVE A DUCK, YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW, HAROLD AND MAUDE, not to mention THE GRADUATE and a variety of other films that feature disillusioned young men trying to find meaning to life and purpose in existence in a world of absurdity. Not surprisingly, I suppose, once again America is in a troubled war, political protest is almost tiresomely routine and society is defined by extreme political, social and ethical differences. At a time when we are bombarded from an untold number of sources about how we should talk, think and act (left-wing politically correct conformity strangely mirroring the right-wing cold war conformity of the 1950's), HUCKABEES turns to a radically old-fashioned concept: Go figure it out for yourself.

In a press release for HUCKABEES, director David O. Russell writes "Philosophy interests me only insofar as it is practical and makes people feel more alive and open -- not closed." As such HUCKABEES doesn't seem so much aimed at presenting Russell's personal philosophy so much as musing over some of the possibilities. The film revolves around Albert Markovski (played by Jason Schwartzman, as sort of Russell's surrogate), a not-particularly-successful environmentalist. Albert has a rivalry with/ friendship to /hatred of /crush on Brad Strand (Jude Law), a corporate cog who works for Huckabees, a Wal-Mart-like chain wanting to place a new store on a plot of landscape that Albert is doing a rather poor job of protecting. For different reasons, they both turn to "existential detectives" Bernard and Vivian Jaffe, (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin), who presumably investigate/stalk their clients to figure out what makes them tick. Basically, Bernard and Vivian are a conscience for hire. Hot on Bernard and Vivian's heels is Caterine Vauban (Isabell Huppert), an ex-pupil turned rival, who is bent on spreading the word that life is meaningless and valueless.

In battling for Albert's psyche, if not his soul, the two factions offer conflicting views of the world. Bernard argues that life is a blanket, one interconnecting fabric of existence where all things are related. Caterine offers a world of random chaos where values are arbitrary. Being versus nothingness. Responsibility versus indifference. Hope versus despair. Light versus dark. Good versus evil.

As philosophy, it is probably pretty simplistic, but philosophy isn't the point so much as the absurdity of life which makes it so difficult to keep one's bearings. If Albert (and Russell) never quite cut through the chaos and ultimately only find peace through compromise, that is probably the best anyone can really hope for. But like any movie (or mystery or therapy) the ending is possibly not necessarily as important as the journey getting there. Which is a good thing for HUCKABEES because the film gradually peters out, but it is an unpredictable ride, shared with oddball characters, while it lasts.

And it is something of a sentimental journey. I doubt it is entirely a coincidence that Schartzman bears more than a passing resemblance to a youthful Hoffman (in a Beatles' haircut, no less), whose performance in THE GRADUATE will forever grant him iconic status as a symbol of the 1960's. HUCKABEES echoes many of the themes from that 1968 landmark film: the questioning of prevailing values, battling consumerism, searching for identity and, last but not least, seduction by an older woman.

Though not entirely successful, there is something just so wonderfully refreshing about I HEART HUCKABEES. It is a film that tries to be about ideas, without being self-consciously pretentious, like Woody Allen. It flirts with the sweetness of a Spielberg film, but in the humanistic style of a Robert Altman, but without his souring streak of cynicism. But most of all it stays miles away from the cold-blooded nihilism of Scorsese, Tarantino and the bunch. This is a film without villains, only comrades who, to one degree or another, are searching for peace of mind.

I have to agree with the reviewer who said this film will appeal to a very narrow audience.

If you are a philosophy major or just a major black-clad espresso drinker, you'll probably resent the movie for "dumbing down" existentialism. If you're a regular person looking for a regular comedy to enjoy, please, trust me, skip this film.

But if you're philosophically curious, acquainted with Camus, and like a little vertigo with your comedy, run, do not walk, and pick up this film. For that narrow group, and by no means are they an elite, this is the ultimate feel-good film.

Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman - Rushmore) is an urban guerrilla. A freedom fighter against Urban Sprawl and Corporate-sponsored Over-Development. At least this is how he likes to think of himself. In reality he's a self-obsessed insecure neurotic, and his environmental action group 'Open Spaces' is having little success in the face of their nemesis, the Huckabees corporation. That is until Brad Stand (Jude Law) steps in. As the caring face of Huckabees he sets up a co-operative group with 'Open Spaces' and shows that corporate entities and environmental groups can work together for the good of the community.

Again, that's how Brad likes to think of his work but he's not a happy man. His mental wellbeing is unravelling, his home life is not good, and his work is beginning to suffer. His wife is Dawn Campbell (Naomi Watts - Mulholland Drive), she is the gorgeous face, body and voice of the Huckabees corporation. That is until she discovers that life is meaningless, we are all simply atoms caught up in a never-ending cycle, and identity is an illusion.

She discovers this through the work of Bernard (Dustin Hoffman) and Vivian (Lily Tomlin), a husband and wife existential detective agency. They are hired by Albert to investigate why he feels so empty in his life, and to answer his number one question - what is the meaning of life. They observe him 24 hours a day and investigate all other relationships in his life. This leads them to Dawn, who starts wearing dungarees and a babies bonnet after their "treatment".

Meanwhile Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg - Boogie Nights) is a client of Bernard's and Vivian's agency. He is going through a crisis. An ex-pupil of Bernard and Vivian's, a Russian Nihilist Existentialist called Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert) has sent him her book, on why Nihilism holds the answers he seeks. He comes to believe this is correct and Bernard and Vivian believe he needs the help of an "existential partner" and introduces him to Albert. He try's to convince Albert Nihilism is the way forward, but Albert falls in love with Caterine and finds out it isn't.

Being billed as an "Existential Comedy" I've been meaning to see 'I Heart Huckabees since it was originally released about 6 months ago, but never got round to it. Totally kicking myself now cause it was absolutely superb. Awesome soundtrack, inventive and original cinematography, some amazing performances and most importantly a great story. Directed and co-written by David O. Russell (along with Jeff Baena) who last gave us 'Three Kings', the well-received anti-war comedy drama set in the first Iraq war. I personally didn't think 'Three Kings' lived up to the hype, an enjoyable film sure, but not particularly ground breaking or terribly thought provoking.

'I Heart Huckabees' blows 'Three Kings' away, the dialogue has so many levels it's hard to peel them away, but as Bernard teaches "it's all connected". The soundtrack is from the always-awesome Jon Brion who has given us the great music to some of the best films of recent years such as 'Magnolia', 'Punch Drunk Love' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. The performances are powerhouses, Law and Watts both standing out as two of the finest young actors in the world today. Watts steals the show thought, surpassing her turn in one of my all-time faves, 'Mulholland Drive'. The film's main theme is one of anti-corporatism, but it isn't so pervasive as to effect the overall upbeat feeling of enlightenment and acceptance the film immerses us in.

The best part of the film for me was the inventive use of the visuals to perfectly illustrate scientific and philosophical ideas. It's pure eye candy, sections of the film peeling away, mixing with other areas of the screen to form new pictures, showing us how everything can be deconstructed. We are all the same. It's all just atoms, identity is an illusion, we are all connected.

'I Heart Huckabees' is released on DVD in the UK today.