by Darcy Burford
Daily Lobo
"I Heart Huckabees" is a successful plunge into a world most directors wouldn't dare enter.
The movie begins with Albert Markovski, played by Jason Schwartzman, hiring a pair of existential detectives, played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman, to find the meaning behind his repeated coincidental meetings with a "tall African." Instead, the detectives try to solve Albert's existential crises and send him running to find his own truth about life.
The movie opens with a long string of expletives, which sets the stage for the next hour and 46 minutes.
The detective firm is soon revealed to be a support group in disguise.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Some of the funnier and more masterfully crafted scenes occur during body bag therapy. Albert "dismantles" inside a body bag and visualizes himself cutting all of the problem-people in his life with machetes. The detective agency also has "Mancala Hour," in which all clients and their others support buddies get together to play the African game and have cocktails. Other forms of therapy include hitting each other in the faces with bouncy balls and setting jet skis aflame.
When Markovski believes the detectives aren't doing what he hired them to do and are making his life worse, he decides to solve his own mystery. His coincidences with the tall African are a dead end, and Markovski is left believing in utter nothingness.
He teams up with his "other," played by Mark Wahlberg, a firefighter who has gone over to the dark side of existentialism, and who, in added humor, always wears his firefighter boots.
Through his journey, Markovski runs into several familiar faces. Jude Law plays Markovski's archenemy/existential brother, from whom Markovski is desperately seeking approval. Naomi Watts is a model struggling with the pressures of being "pretty." Even Shania Twain makes a cameo appearance.
The performances in "I Heart Huckabees" are fantastic, especially from Wahlberg. His portrayal of a lonely, angry, knowledge-seeking flake is hysterical. Law also pulls off a clean American accent for his role as a charming, materialistic businessman. Hoffman plays the goofy pseudo-psychologist wonderfully, making the audience laugh out loud when he represents the interconnected world using a blanket. And Tomlin is so serious, it's funny.
In the end, all the characters involved must choose a life of nihilism or a life of existential interconnectedness. Although all ends well, the movie doesn't cop-out with a happy ending. The audience is still left with a twisted resolution to produce a final laugh.
"I Heart Huckabees" is absurdly comical and uses dark humor and sharp wit to convey its message. It's definitely a thinking movie filled with entertaining quirks and an all-star cast. If you liked "The Royal Tenenbaums," you'll heart "I Heart Huckabees."
I Heart Huckabees
Rated:R
Grade:A-
