An exuberant
offbeat comedy
in which
Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin play detectives hired by
kindhearted
local poet and
activist Albert
Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) to investigate the
meaning of three
coincidences that could hold the key to life. The investigation
soon involves other clients such as passionate, vulnerable fireman
Tom Corn (Mark Wahlberg), cunning sales exec Brad Stand (Jude Law)
and hot spokesmodel with an identity crisis Dawn Campbell (Naomi
Watts). The hilarious case is
further complicated
with the
detectives' seductive French nemesis Catherine Vauban (Isabelle
Huppert) luring Albert and Tom into her way of seeing things.
CRITIQUE
I Heart Huckabees
is a weird movie, but it's also a very good one. Since the story
feels loose, the events in the story are free to go anywhere. It
becomes interesting to see where the characters go and how they
get there. The friendship that develops between Albert and Tom
feels totally realistic as both men find they have a lot of things
in common, such as opting to ride their bikes around town instead
of wasting petroleum. Schwartzman and Wahlberg have good
chemistry, but it's Wahlberg who injects real life into his
character.
The two existential
detectives played by Hoffman and Tomlin fall into the background a
little after the first half of the movie because the focus shifts
to Isabelle Huppert's Catherine as she tries to convince Albert
that reality is not connected to anything except that it's full of
unexpected and shitty surprises.
Co-writer/director
David O. Russell (Three Kings) introduces some pretty
interesting ideas and thoughts about coincidence and what life is
about and what it means, but he doesn't preach these ideas and the
movie doesn't take itself seriously. Instead Russell lets the
characters speak their minds and the dialogue is often times funny
and ridiculous at the same time. As a director Russell stages a
number of very cool scenes, a lot of them are fun and weird
character interactions.
There's one scene
when it happened I thought was very strange, it involves Albert
and Catherine dumping each other's heads into mud and then
kissing, followed by another act that I won't reveal. But, the
scene turned out be strange in a good way. There are a lot of
weird scenes in the movie, but they work, and a lot of them have
something to say about character and life.
The central conflict
of the movie exists in Albert's confusion about what his life is
about, especially after he encounters a tall African man three
times in three different circumstances. Albert also leads a
coalition to save the trees where a certain Brad Stand (Jude Law
in an interesting performance) proposes to build a new Huckabees
store, where people can buy everyday things. This set up serves as
a jumping off point for Albert as he ventures off into new
territory and for Brad as he rises in popularity among his
co-workers. When Brad hires the two existential detectives, he
does it to corrupt Albert, but the detectives have an unforeseen
effect on his girlfriend Dawn, played by a terrific and sexy Naomi
Watts.
I Heart Huckabees
is a weird movie, but I liked it. I especially liked what the
characters had to say and what things they were propelled to do.
The movie's ending was also kind of sweet and brought every
character full circle, tying together character elements and such
in good fashion.
THE VIDEO
Fox presents I
Heart Huckabees in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen on one side of
the flipper disc and in pan and scan format on the other.
The colors look clean and
vibrant. Picture quality is devoid of any big flaws, there is some
grain here and there as are tiny specks in some scenes. Dark
levels are fine, sharpness and detail look pretty good. Overall,
this is a pretty good transfer. Optional subtitles include English
and Spanish.
THE AUDIO
Fox presents I
Heart Huckabees in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. Dialogue is
clear and easy to understand. The music and sound effects are
presented clearly as well. The front speakers do a pretty good job
reproducing the audio across both front channels. Surround usage
is evident in a few scenes but limited.
THE EXTRAS
This single-disc
edition features two commentary tracks and nothing else. A
two-disc DVD is available featuring several hours of bonus material.
The commentaries
feature one by David O. Russell and a second by Russell,
Jason Schwartzman, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts (via cell
phone). These provide interesting conversations and anyone who
likes the movie is sure to be entertained and informed by these
tracks for most of the time.
That's it. There's
not even a trailer for the film on this DVD.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This particular DVD
edition gets a "rent it" recommendation because of the lack of
bonus material. The two-disc special edition DVD is what people
who like the movie should buy.
