|
|
| If
you do decide to go see I Heart Huckabees or have already
seen it, enjoy the comedy, smile at the actors, and have fun listening
to that little inner voice as you toss around the meaning of life
inside your own head. As you think about connections and coincidences,
ask yourself how we are actually connected. |
(2004) Film Review |
| This
page was created on November 3, 2004
This page was last updated on
December 11, 2004
—Review by Elisabeth Leitch
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
pdf file
—Spiritual Connections
—Blog
with Elisabeth
Dial up modems will take a few moments |
| CREDITS |
| Directed
by David O. Russell
Screenplay by David O. Russell and Jeff Baena
Cast
(in credits order)
Jason Schwartzman .... Albert Markovski
Isabelle Huppert .... Caterine Vauban
Dustin Hoffman .... Bernard
Lily Tomlin .... Vivian
Jude Law .... Brad Stand
Mark Wahlberg .... Tommy Corn
Naomi Watts .... Dawn Campbell
Angela Grillo .... Angela Franco
Ger Duany .... Mr. Nimieri
Darlene Hunt .... Darlene
Kevin Dunn .... Marty
Benny Hernandez .... Davy
Richard Appel .... Josh
Benjamin Nurick .... Harrison
Jake Muxworthy .... Tim
Pablo Davanzo .... Bobby
Produced
by
Gregory Goodman .... producer
Michael Kuhn .... executive producer
Scott Rudin .... producer
David O. Russell .... producer
Dara Weintraub .... line producer
Original Music by Jon Brion
Non-Original Music by Ludwig van Beethoven
Cinematography by Peter Deming
Film Editing by Robert K. Lambert
MPAA: Rated R for language
and a sex scene.
Runtime: 106 min
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM,
and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG
|
| TRAILERS
AND CLIPS |
| —Trailers,
Photos |
| CD |
I
Heart Huckabees (Score)
Jon Brion
1. Monday
2. Knock Yourself Out
3. Strange Bath
4. Cubes
5. Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad
6. Coincidences
7. Over Our Heads
8. You Learn
9. Later Monday
10. Ska
11. Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
12. Huckabees Jingls (50's Version)
13. Revolving Door
14. JB's Blues
15. True to Yourself
16. Didn't Think It Would Turn Out Bad [String Quartet Version]
17. Strangest Times
18. Omni
19. Get What It's About
20. Monday (End Credits)
|
| POSTER |
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ON VIDEO AND DVD |
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| SYNOPSIS
|
 The
fourth film from writer and director David O. Russell (THREE KINGS,
FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, SPANKING THE MONKEY) is a comedy that's all
about what it's all about.
Convinced that a series of coincidences involving a doorman hold some
secret to life's largest riddles, Albert Markovski (JASON SCHWARTZMAN)
seeks the help of a detective agency unlike any other. . . which leads
him down a path that questions the essence of existence itself.
In an attempt to ferret out the meaning of these flukes, he consults
Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (DUSTIN HOFFMAN, LILY TOMLIN), AKA the Existential
Detectives, a pair of married metaphysicians who fearlessly investigate
the mysteries at the core of their clients' secret innermost lives.
When on a case, these two follow their clients around closely, observe
their daily activities, query their friends and employers and intently
examine the lives they lead. The difference is that the Existential
Detectives seek the solutions to the most persistent mystery of all
the one that lies at the core of reality and existence itself . .
. which means their investigations can get a little tricky.
Bernard and Vivian kick off their existential exploration of Albert
Markovski by probing his past and present reality. Along the way,
they uncover his festering conflict with Brad Stand (JUDE LAW), a
golden boy executive climbing the corporate ladder at Huckabees, a
popular chain of retail super-stores that wants to sponsor Albert's
Open Spaces Coalition for the PR value. The Existential Detectives
are convinced that Brad seemingly Albert's opposite -- is the key
to cracking Albert's case, but then Brad turns the tables on their
investigation, by hiring the detectives himself.
As Bernard and Vivian begin to dig deeper into Brad's ambition and
his relationship with Huckabees' hot blonde spokesmodel Dawn (NAOMI
WATTS), Albert begins to lose faith and rebels against their conclusions.
Pairing up with another of the duo's clients . firefighter, tough
guy and uncompromising soul searcher Tommy (MARK WAHLBERG) he joins
forces with the Jaffes' arch nemesis, the sexy French philosopher
Caterine Vauban (ISABELLE HUPPERT), who valiantly battles for the
contrasting point of view. Now, as Being chases Nothingness, Albert,
Tommy, Brad, Dawn, Bernard, Vivian and Caterine chase one another
in a wild romp through life's biggest questions to find the true answer.
Directed by Russell from a script by Russell and Jeff Baena, I Heart
HUCKABEES stars Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Huppert, Jude Law, Jason
Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts. The producers
are David O. Russell, Gregory Goodman and Scott Rudin, and the executive
producer is Michael Kuhn.
The philosophical battles that lie at the heart of I Heart HUCKABEES
battles between meaning and futility, interconnectedness and individualism,
idealism and conventional success -- have long been waged in the mind
of writer/director David O. Russell, which is what led him to the
creation of Albert Markovski, the Existential Detectives and the script
for I Heart HUCKABEES. "I became intrigued by the idea of a detective
following someone around not for any criminal or personal intrigue,
but rather as part of a very serious investigation about existence
itself," he says. "This was a funny idea to me yet also
full of ideas that are very serious.
In writing the screenplay, Russell drew on the concepts of several
different conflicting strains of philosophy from the non-dual, interconnectedness
theories of Eastern philosophy, which influence Bernard and Vivian,
to the Sartrean notions of a more meaningless universe that demands
a profound individualism, which are found in the words and actions
of the Existential Detectives' alter ego, Caterine. He also consulted
leading physicists to further understand quantum physical reality.
Russell says, "I have often wondered why it is that in today's many
'smart indie films' the characters often seem to struggle and lead
these very dark existences, yet never have recourse to the mysterious
traditions of investigating consciousness that have existed throughout
human history. In our materialist culture, we have such a strong bias
toward 'dark' stories in which everyone is just depressed and struggling
and that's life. I think there should be other paradigms and opportunities." |
 Review
by ELISABETH LEITCH
Elisabeth Leitch is a graduate of the University
of California San Diego with a BA in Literature-Writing. A person
who has always loved movies, she never ceases to be amazed with
the way movies impact viewers by both reflecting and asking questions
about the culture and world in which we live. Currently, Elisabeth
spends her days working in a local bookstore and seeking what God
has in store for her future. She has also worked as a reporter/writer
for the Los Alamos Monitor and the New Mexico Business Journal. |
 Although
most of us probably would not admit to it in public, I'd guess that
the majority of people actually do have little voices in their heads.
Not a million and one different personalities that should send us
racing to our nearest psychologist, not even that angel that sits
on one shoulder and the devil that sits on the other, but our own
voice, inside our own heads, always there, always talking, sometimes
about what we are doing, sometimes about something completely different,
and more often than not questioning who we are, what we are doing,
and why in the world we are doing it.
As the movie I Heart Huckabees begins
to roll across the screen, it is that little voice that we hear
talking to Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) and asking those
same questions that so often circulate through our own brains-in
nutshell-What am I doing? and Does what I'm doing even mean anything
or make any difference? And from here, I Heart Huckabees
begins, launching into a whirlwind montage of comic scenes and lines
as Markovski sets off on a mission to find the meaning of life.
 In
search of this meaning, Markovski is first joined by existential
detectives Bernard Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman) and Vivian Jaffe (Lily
Tomlin) whom he hires to decipher a series of coincidences in his
life. From there enter Brad Stand (Jude Law), Markovski's coworker
and archenemy; and Dawn Campell (Naomi Watts), Stand's girlfriend
and voice of Huckabees, who also hire Bernard and Vivian to investigate
them. Lastly come Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg), a petroleum obsessed
client of Bernard and Vivian; and Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert),
a Frenchwoman with different views on the existential questions
of life. With next to no plot, I Heart Huckabees
jumps from there and proceeds to chronicle life as each of these
characters explores what defines his or her life, reality, and identity
and each one searches for what life's meaning actually is.
For Markovski and Corn, the reality with which they enter the story
is one centered on hopelessness. The reality they seek-one of meaning
and purpose. Markovski spends his days trying to save forests and
marshes with next to no avail and wonders if several chance encounters
with the same man might hold some deeper meaning to his seemingly
futile life. Corn obsesses over petroleum consumption, sweatshops,
and other global problems and just wishes people would do something
about them.
Joining the search for life's meaning, with their only intention
being to mess with Markovski, Stand and Campell begin to question
their identities and lives only after Bernard and Vivian's investigation
helps them recognize who they actually are. Listening to himself
tell the same celebrity encounter story over and over again, Stand
(while having a nervous breakdown) comes to see his life as "putting
on a show when inside he's frowning and drowning" (as Stand said
himself in an earlier poem). Reaching a revelation that her identity
is based only on her looks, Campell trades in her barely-there clothes
worn in Huckabees ads for baggy overalls and a bonnet.
In response to Markovski and Corn's desire for meaning in life and
Stand and Campell's flawed definitions of their own lives and identities,
I Heart Huckabees presents various answers
to where the real meaning of life actually lies.
The first "authorities" to enter the story, Bernard and Vivian present
the conclusion that the meaning of life is about the connection
of all things. As Bernard explains in a highly comical scene, reality
is like a blanket: we're in one spot, someone else is in another,
in another spot is the Eiffel tower, and in another a hammer. To
find the true meaning of life, one must learn to see the "blanket
truth," a universe where everything is connected, everything has
equal meaning, and therefore "everything you could ever want or
be you already have or are."
 In
direct opposition to Bernard and Vivian, Vauban intrudes into the
investigation with her own conclusion-nothing is connected, we are
all alone, we are all miserable, and therefore nothing matters.
For her, finding meaning in life simply means accepting that the
world is hopeless and, instead of trying to do something about it,
pretty much doing things to forget about it. With this attitude,
Markovski and Corn end up in a scene that involves hitting each
other in the face with a large rubber ball that, while hilarious,
cannot help but be connected to real life numbing agents such as
drugs and alcohol.
While only presented in a brief scene and not quite shown as an
authority, a third answer suggested to the meaning of life that
Markovski and Corn encounter is religion. While dining with a family,
Markovski and Corn tell the family about their investigation. In
response, one of the children asks why they don't just go to church,
the mother responds with a statement that some people have additional
questions, and the child finishes with a comment that we don't have
to ask those questions. Spiraling into arguments and accusations
of hypocrisy, the dinner does not end well and Markovski and Corn
make a quick exit.
In the end, I Heart Huckabees has presented
a variety of options as to what the meaning of life could be. Instead
of presenting one solution as a defining answer, however, the various
solutions that have appeared throughout the movie seem to come off
as too abstract, too hopeless, too disconnected from reality, too
extreme, and/or simply incomplete in one way or another. While each
character seems to have grown in small ways, while they all seem
to have abandoned lives of complete non-meaning and non-purpose,
it seems that even in the answers they have found by the end-we
all are connected in suffering, but still, our lives have meaning
and there is hope-at least one bigger question still remains: Where
do we go from there and why? br>
So, at the end of the hour and forty six minutes, you may ask, is
I Heart Huckabees worth seeing? And to
that all I can say is, it really depends. As a comedy, I
Heart Huckabees is definitely full of quality laughs.
Other than one too-weird sex scene in a swamp (which, in my opinion,
could have just as well been left out) and a few meditative montages,
the comedy is unique, mostly avoids cliché jokes and over-used sexual
humor, and has more great one and two liners just waiting to be
quoted than I can count. At the same time, however, I repeat that
the comedy is unique . . . meaning-although simply seeing the well-known
cast play such bizarre roles was enough to make me smile throughout
the entire movie, this disconnected story of extreme overacting
and situations and jokes that could never fit into any sort of normal
world may simply not be what every moviegoer would consider funny
or even entertaining.
 Beyond
its comedy, I Heart Huckabees also has
its other pluses and minuses. Between its examinations of the things
that define each of the characters and the various ideas presented
as the meaning of life, I Heart Huckabees
not only touches on many issues that are real in people's lives,
but also manages to present pieces of many worldviews, ideologies,
and struggles alive in the world today. For viewers who like a logical
storyline with growth, development, and resolution, however, this
anti-plot story with little real character development and more
questions than answers hanging at its ending might be more confusing
and possibly depressing than some may care for.
So, do you see it or not? I leave that up to you. But if you do
decide to go see I Heart Huckabees or
have already seen it, enjoy the comedy, smile at the actors, and
have fun listening to that little voice as you toss around the meaning
of life inside your own head. As you think about connections and
coincidences, ask yourself how we are actually connected. As you
think about the things of life that seem hopeless, ask yourself
what can actually set you free from your own fears and feelings
of hopelessness. As you think about whatever defines you, ask yourself
if it is all just an act and if you really are who you are. As you
think about whatever provides your life with meaning and explains
the things of this world, ask yourself if it is something more than
an idea you blindly follow without question or if instead it is
something you have questioned, have allowed yourself to face the
questions and struggles of the world, and do allow to be something
that interacts with life instead of just a belief, a mental assent,
that rests inside your head and nowhere else.
As you ask yourself all of these questions and so many more, consider
the possibilities given the characters in the movie, the more specific
"whats" and even bigger "Why?" that still remain wide open at the
movie's end, and how Mark Wahlberg's answer to Good Morning
America's question of what he actually believes the meaning
of life to be (love, compassion, and forgiveness?all coming back
to Jesus) could very well answer all the questions that you ask.
As the little voice in your head asks you what the meaning of your
life really is, let it ask, ask it questions in return, and don't
be afraid to actually find the meaning of life.
—Blog
with Elisabeth
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