I Heart Huckabees: Weird Ass Fun
In 2004, what makes a movie memorable? Furthermore, why do we go to the movies?
And why am I asking these weird questions anyway?
Maniacally inventive director David O'Russell's last film, 'Three Kings' was a SCUD Missile of a Gulf War story - unsettling, insightful, inspirational - it dared to make a statement.
Russell goes for gold again. This time, he gets not gold, but some sort of unidentifiable exotic alien metal in his free-associational ‘I Heart Huckabees.’ The film bottles that, how shall I say, 'New York/Los Angeles/Blue State sensibility' and philosophizes the New Agey mantra 'What does it all mean?’ as it peers into the American pop-corporate culture void. 'I Heart Huckabees’ wants to know, ‘Do we still have any soul left?’
‘I Heart Huckabees’ is existential comedy. I ‘got it’ as much as I didn’t get any of it. Maybe you’ll feel the same. But that’s the point.
I get a kick out of this sort of movie. It doesn’t claim to have any answers. It just opens Pandora’s Box and then takes a giant step back leaving one to ponder life’s grand sense of interconnectedness - or random lack thereof. Russell’s courageous circus show still has me thinking about it a week later. I even bought the twisted music box soundtrack by songwriter, producer, musical genius Jon Brion (Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
I won’t get into story details - how could I? - I’m not even sure there were any. I will, however, reward Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg, Jude Law and Naomi Watts for pressing forward - never giving any hint of the doubt they must have been feeling on set as cameras rolled: ‘Has Russell lost his marbles?’ The cast boldly marches onward, conveying confusion, sadness, honesty - all those real human emotions none of us ever really know how to handle - with a sincere rightness that will leave you feeling warm and bubbly all over. Wahlberg is the centerpiece. He’s great. A lesser cast and this film wouldn’t have clicked.
Be warned - ‘I Heart Huckabees’ is weird, strange, yet kinetic and freeing. It might even leave you asking new questions in your own life. Alas, you’re going to have to figure it out all on your own. Like Russell, I can’t tell you what ‘It’ means. But that’s just because I might not even know that I know.
And why am I asking these weird questions anyway?
Maniacally inventive director David O'Russell's last film, 'Three Kings' was a SCUD Missile of a Gulf War story - unsettling, insightful, inspirational - it dared to make a statement.
Russell goes for gold again. This time, he gets not gold, but some sort of unidentifiable exotic alien metal in his free-associational ‘I Heart Huckabees.’ The film bottles that, how shall I say, 'New York/Los Angeles/Blue State sensibility' and philosophizes the New Agey mantra 'What does it all mean?’ as it peers into the American pop-corporate culture void. 'I Heart Huckabees’ wants to know, ‘Do we still have any soul left?’
‘I Heart Huckabees’ is existential comedy. I ‘got it’ as much as I didn’t get any of it. Maybe you’ll feel the same. But that’s the point.
I get a kick out of this sort of movie. It doesn’t claim to have any answers. It just opens Pandora’s Box and then takes a giant step back leaving one to ponder life’s grand sense of interconnectedness - or random lack thereof. Russell’s courageous circus show still has me thinking about it a week later. I even bought the twisted music box soundtrack by songwriter, producer, musical genius Jon Brion (Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
I won’t get into story details - how could I? - I’m not even sure there were any. I will, however, reward Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg, Jude Law and Naomi Watts for pressing forward - never giving any hint of the doubt they must have been feeling on set as cameras rolled: ‘Has Russell lost his marbles?’ The cast boldly marches onward, conveying confusion, sadness, honesty - all those real human emotions none of us ever really know how to handle - with a sincere rightness that will leave you feeling warm and bubbly all over. Wahlberg is the centerpiece. He’s great. A lesser cast and this film wouldn’t have clicked.
Be warned - ‘I Heart Huckabees’ is weird, strange, yet kinetic and freeing. It might even leave you asking new questions in your own life. Alas, you’re going to have to figure it out all on your own. Like Russell, I can’t tell you what ‘It’ means. But that’s just because I might not even know that I know.
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