David O. Russell, writer/director of \I Heart Huckabees"" is somewhat of a Hollywood anomaly. Every couple years he'll jump out, make a bizarre movie and then, in a ninja-like fashion, will disappear back into the shadows. His breakthrough movie ""Spanking the Monkey"" was an incest comedy, and he also made the 1999 satire of the first Iraqi war ""Three Kings,"" so it seems well suited that he'd also helm a movie billed as an ""existential comedy."" While the mashing together of these two terms does not always work in ""I Heart Huckabees,"" with a different director at the helm it may have been a complete mess.
Russell's style works because he is an actor's director. He does not spend much time setting up cool-looking dolly shots, and special effects are kept to a minimum. Instead, his focus is squarely focused on getting the best performances out of his actors. It goes without saying that Dustin Hoffman is one fine actor, but some have chided him for playing basically the same character in every movie, always playing a lovable agitator that is quick with a quip-he has been in ""Rain Man"" mode ever since 1988. However, in ""Huckabees"" he plays a more droll, laid-back character that really works well for him.
Russell also gets a great performance out of Jude Law, who has constantly fallen into the mold of a cocky cutthroat character. Sure, cocky and cutthroat describe his character at the start of ""Huckabees,"" but in the latter half of the film, a character change brings about new levels to his character and Law's acting. Jason Schwartzman and Mark Wahlberg also turn in very good performances, which were a nice change of pace since they haven't made a good film since ""Rushmore,"" and Russell's own ""Three Kings,"" respectively.
Now the problem with making an existential comedy is it relies on existentialism. There are entire college courses surrounding theories relating to existentialism, it is impossible to distill the concept down into a two hour comedy. Therefore, much confusion arises over the plot.
The plot, as can best be told, is about Albert (Schwartzman) noticing some coincidences in his life, so he seeks out a pair of existentialist detectives (Lily Tomlin and Hoffman) to see if they can straighten everything out. Their detective work examines Albert's relationship with the vain Brad Stand (Law), Albert's partner in business, who turns out to be his primary competitor as well. The detectives also pick up Brad, and his girlfriend, Dawn (Naomi Watts), to do some more of their existentialism on their relationship. The detectives introduce Albert to Tommy Corn (Wahlberg), another one of their clients who seems crazy and is certain the petroleum industry will lead to the demise of the world. All of these relations surround the opening of a Walmart-esque superstore called Huckabees in the middle of a wetland.
While the plot is somewhat confusing, Russell's style saves it. There are three main character setups that overlap throughout the narrative. Albert's story, Brad's story and Dawn's story do all intermingle, but each arc commands a large chunk of screen time. It would be entirely possible for the film to lose momentum while attempting the transition between arcs, but Russell's unique characters and fluid direction makes the transitions successful.
""I Heart Huckabees"" features some excellent acting and directing, but the bizarre existentialism displayed probably makes people walk out of the theater thinking ""I think that movie was good... but I have no idea what it was about...""
