I HEART HUCKABEES

US, 2004, 107 minutes, Colour.
Jason Schwartzman, Isabelle Huppert, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, Kevin Dunn, Tippi Hedren, Jean Smart, Said Taghmaoui, Jonah Hill, Talia Shire, Bob Gunton, Richard Jenkins.
Directed by David O. Russell.

A reasonable question to ask after viewing this oddball movie would be: is this an intelligent, neo-philosophical, absurdist exercise in relevant post-Gen X visual and verbal gymnastics or, simply, a clever hoax?

When we look at the three films from director, Russell, let alone his tongue-in-cheek aggro interviews, we find a very, very mixed bag – but, on the whole, quite irreverent in tone and theme, from incestuous relationships to quests for parental identities to mockery of American involvement in the first Gulf War. When asked for a succinct indicator of the theme of Huckabees, we can answer ‘Existential detective investigation’.

Jonathan Schwarzmann is an angst-ridden ecologist who is being ousted from his foundation by members dissatisfied with his erratic leadership, poetry recitations and the process of his being stalked so that the detectives (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) can examine his life and explain the metaphysical implications of the coincidences he notices. They are cosmic interconnectedness. More complications inducing increased angst include a friendship with an anti-fossil fuel campaigner/fireman (Mark Wahlberg), a smooth up-and-coming executive of the Huckabees chain (Jude Law) who is embracing environmental issues as a business promotion – and there is his glamorous girlfriend (Naomi Watts) who is the sex-object star of Huckabees commercials. A rival fate-and-doom existential detective author from France (Isabelle Huppert) also arrives to his intellectual, emotional and sexual confusion.

It is all explored rather than solved, with a screenplay which may be smart dialogue or obfuscating verbiage which may mean something or very little. The hoax option is still a strong possibility.

An IMDb comment calls it ‘an epistemological tour of reality’ – wish we had thought of that!


1. An existential comedy? The nature of existence, meaning of life, the role of physics, psychology, business, advertising, relationships?

2. The blend of the serious and the comic? Ideas, dialogue, philosophising? Satiric touches?

3. The American city, the corporations, the environment, popular movements, New Age?

4. The existential detectives, their observations, stalking their clients, making notes, offering analysis, offering advice? Their interventions? Payment? Pro bono? The rivalry with Caterine? Their theories?

5. The introduction to Albert, his language, concern about the environment, the movement, isolating the rock, squatting on it, his poem? The movement, his being the founder? His character, his clashes with Blake? The rivalry? The movement and the antagonism towards Huckabees? His going to the detectives, the impact on him? The conditions, his permitting them? The office sequences and Blake? Seeing Catherine? Meeting Tom, the bond between them? The visit to his mother, her materialism, the stepfather and his concerns? Catherine’s interventions, taking him over, the visit to his parents, the sexual relationship, falling out with Tom? With the detectives? The personnel of the meeting and the foundation? His being outvoted? The consequences with Tom, with the detectives? How much resolution to the meaning of his life?

6. Bernard and Vivian, Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, their screen presence, personalities? The office, the interviews? The descriptions of their work? The setting up of the contracts? Following Albert? The theories, especially the blanket? The episodes, their eavesdropping, their comments? The clash with Catherine? The final resolution – or not? An oddball odd couple?

7. Blake, his age, smug, the corporation, his work, his reaction to the poems? His rivalry with Albert? His relationship with Dawn? Her commercials? Their life together, their clash, Dawn changing? His meeting the detectives, relying on them? Dawn’s change and the different advertisements? The final clash with Albert?

8. Dawn, in commercials, her relationship with Blake, living together? The encounter with the detectives, her believing their theories, the change, her Amish-like dressing? The clash with Heather – and Heather taking over her role? The conservative advertisements – and the reaction of the Huckabees hierarchy?

9. Tom, his work as a fireman, his family? The interrogation? Work with the detectives, the theories? Meeting Albert, bonding with him, their outings together? The falling out, the role of Catherine? The resolving of their friendship?

10. Catherine, from France, the pupil of Albert and Vivian, her rivalry, her books? The clashes with the detectives? Her coming to America? Her book, her studies, finding Albert, relating to him, influencing his life, behaviour, the sexual relationship? At the end with the detectives?

11. The Huckabees staff, the corporation, making money, advertising? Heather, the new face of Huckabees in the advertisements? Her clash with Dawn?

12. Albert’s mother, her not understanding her son, her way of life, affluent, her husband, the concern about the television?

13. The Sudanese man, his presence, the different roles, the explanations? His being adopted? Albert’s family?

14. The offbeat nature of the comedy, self-conscious, parody? Exploration of ideas through comedy?