Huckabees: A Vida é uma Comédia

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.

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.

I suppose the highest reach any artist can have is to create something so carefully placed and shaped that it grows into unknown, unseen corners of the word and absorbs things beyond the artist's reach. Such things — I would call this "real" art — must be a dream for many.

Film makes this harder in a way, because many of the conventions now demand that characters, if not situations, be "real" and that story arcs take predictable form.

So usually what screenwriters play with is the causal dynamics of the world. I only know well one other of Russell's films "Flirting," which seemed as though it was skirting too close to the edges of romantic comedy. That's the territory of Wes Anderson and not capable of doing more than amusing.

This is different, this. Sure, it has large character strokes that are comic, or seem so. But what it does is redefine the world in a way that clarifies and makes for that spongelike quality of real art.

The setup now is that most of the world is wrapped as a character, a large department store chain called Huckabees. The situation deals with folks who support and/or resist it in minor ways. The pretty "voice," the advertisements, the poems, a benefit show, these "folds" in the movie (each a small, similar movie) are played with in very clever ways.

Hoffman's character goes further to isolate the main character from the movie by putting him in a bad so he can get to his inner movie. Another character played by Markie Mark (amazingly well) has had his reality scrambled by 9-11. The two, later joined by the Huckabee's "voice," settle into a search for the form of movie for their lives.

Hoffman and Tomlin represent one cinematic philosophy. Isabelle Huppert — a sort of icon for new new wave European cinema — represents that notion of cinematic wrapping and competes with the "existential detectives," Hoffman and Tomlin for control over our three, four with Laws' character.

They represent that uniquely American notion of having a character in the story, usually a detective literally, that stands between the viewer and the story, in both, unraveling both. They "watch." The story itself isn't strong enough to sustain this fabricated notion, and resorts by the end more and more on simple comedy and strokes from romantic movies. It ends happily, it seems, which is a dangerous flaw.

This does well in its first half in giving us something that qualifies as worthwhile. I does, and I recommend it to you. Its more than mere quirky charm and you really might find your mind, even your soul being competed for.

The last part, all that business about Laws' character, was necessitated so that there would be a story, and actual story so we could justify continuing to watch. But the cost is too high because it negates the tone of the first part. Would Charlie Kaufmann have been clever enough to write his way out of the problem? You can spend the second half of this wondering how, and the first half getting yourself into this delicious dilemma.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

One of the biggest influences for the ideas presented in David O. Russell's 'I Heart Huckabees' was 9/11. He is quoted as saying in Film Comment Magazine, 'For about two months after 9/11, people were asking really profound questions about reality and existence-and then it was back to business as usual.' Indeed this seems to be the case whenever bad things seem to happen in life as people search for the reasoning behind the events and for a meaning to their own existence. Disillusionment often takes place for many affected by tragedy, as has happened to the characters in 'I Heart Huckabees.' From an activist fighting urban sprawl to a firefighter blaming the worlds ills on petroleum hungry nations, 'I Heart Huckabees' presents profound questions about existence with a unique comic approach.

After seeking the reasoning behind a coincidental meeting, Albert (Jason Schwartzman), an activist/poet, seeks the help of some existential detectives, Bernard and Vivian (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin). They agree to study his case by spying on his every day activity and getting into his psyche. In an attempt to help Albert seek answers to his profound questions, Bernard and Vivian join Albert with a disillusioned firefighter named Tommy (Mark Whalberg) who seeks answers to the same questions on life. However, Tommy has a strong bias that all the world's problems result from the exploitation of petroleum. During their investigation into Albert's life, Bernard and Vivian realize that Albert's problems often stem from his struggle to fight the Huckabees Corporation from building on the lands Albert tries in vain to protect- particularly with a corporate salesman named Brad (Jude Law). As Bernard and Vivian further investigate, they realize that Brad and his girlfriend Dawn (Naomi Watts), the sexy image behind Huckabees advertising, have a few of their own existential problems to deal with. Especially Dawn who is completely disillusioned by her own beautiful image, as well as Brad's phony persona. Two schools of thought come into play. One, Bernard and Vivian's viewpoint that everything is connected and the world is not a negative place, but chooses not to deal with its problems. On the other hand, Tommy believes in the viewpoints of a French author named Caterine Vauban (Isabell Huppert) who says that the world is simply a mess, pain and anger are present and the only way to deal with it is to just except it. So who is right and who is wrong? The film's message is that neither is truly wrong or right, but the two must meet somewhere in the middle. What's more, perceptions have an important role in this film. Life is often what you make it. A person can be a phony individual and simply jump on the bandwagon of what is popular to seek approval and acceptance. Or, they could ask themselves if they really believe in certain viewpoints and question the right and wrong that exists in our complex, modern world.

At first glance, with the film's slapstick, yet witty intellectual dialogue combined with unique visuals, it would seem that this is the product of Charlie Kaufman. But Russell's ideas are undeniably his own and have been pondered upon in his mind for years. The director of the Gulf-War drama/comedy, 'Three Kings,' and 'Flirting with Disaster' has made one of 2004s best films. 'I Heart Huckabees' is filled with three-dimensional characters and crisp-sounding dialogue that will leave you chuckling hours after seeing the film. Most importantly, it has ideas that most Hollywood executives fear to take on because of our very conventional societal viewpoints. ****

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.