Review of I ♥ Huckabees (2004) by Yvette K — 31 Mar 2012

What happens in the meadow at dusk?

To say the least this is an extremely off-beat comedy...And that's an understatement...

The Story: Albert Markovski is an environmentalist trying to find all the answers to all of life's most important questions, he's struggling to keep his position of head of his environmentalist group, he's also trying to keep his group out of the hands of money grubbing corporation that only wants to look good for the public...Okay take a deep breath, that was a long sentence...So here's the rest, in order to find the answers he's seeking, he enlists the help of two detectives that will follow him and investigate him...Yes that's right, he gets two detectives to follow him around and investigate him...I told you it's off-beat...Along the way, he befriends a guy with a similar need to understand the universe. The two of them take it upon themselves to find the answers when they become dissatisfied with the answers their getting from the detectives. While trying to figure out the universe by themselves the come across another detective that offers them the help they wanted in the first place....Did any of that make sense at all?...Here's the story broke down into an easier to digest way....

1. Albert Markovski is the head of an environmentalist group. It's about to be taken over by a greedy corporation.

2. Albert hires two philosophical detectives to follow him around, hoping that they will be able to provide answers to all of life's questions...He mainly wants the secret of life...

3. His meets a guy that also wants to know all of life's answers.

4. The two of them, dissatisfied try to find the answers on their own.

5. Failing miserably to find the answers on their own, they get the help of another detective.

Did that help? Probably still makes no sense...Oh well...

The Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Isabelle Huppert, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts...Yeah, it's a huge cast. And it's easy to get lost in the characters if you don't pay attention. Jason Schwarzman is Albert, he's about to be thrown out of his own environmentalist organization. He's going to be replaced by Jude Law, who plays Brad Stand, a man who only wants to put up shopping malls no matter what the land may hold. Brad is going out with Naomi Watts, who plays Dawn Campbell, the "voice of Huckabees", she's a model that does comercials for the store. Albert (Schwartzman) and Brad (Law) both hire Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, who play Bernard and Vivian, two detectives that will follow them until they can provide the answers they're looking for. Albert befriends Mark Wahlberg, who plays Tommy Corn, a confused man who wants nothing more than to stop the use of petroleum. Albert and Tommy meet Isabelle Huppert, who plays Caterine Vauban another detective who has a different view on life than Bernard (Hoffman) and Vivian (Tomlin)...That's the first part, read it again if necessary...Here's the rest. Albert is fighting against Brad. Vivian and Bernard are fighting against Caterine. Tom is fighting against...Well...I guess he's just kind of there...He's sort of against Brad, Vivian, and Bernard...Dustin Hoffman works great with Lily Tomlin, Schwartzman works great with Wahlberg, Law works great with everyone, and everyone works great with everyone else. Everyone plays the parts greatly, all the lines sound original, unless they're meant to sound cliche, and all the characters are pretty memorable. Good stuff from everyone...

Oh, and in case you're still wondering what Huckabees is, it's a chain of large super stores.

One to Five Scale: 4.

It's a unique experience... If you can get into it. It's so off-the-wall that you'll either love it or hate it. You'll either understand it, or it will completely go over your head. If you're looking for something straight out of left field than this is for you...If you don't feel like thinking and examining life, than you might want to steer clear of it...Give it a rental, if you like it, give it a purchase.

Tyler.

09/13/05.