Ask one hundred people to define existentialism and I'd bet that the vast majority would have a hard time getting it right. Given the state of education nowadays, I supposed that isn't terribly surprising. Yet, it's a bit disappointing since most people, at one or more points of their lives, have experienced some feelings expounded in that philosophy.
That's most prevalent in the later teen years (particularly when college rolls around), during midlife crises and toward the end of one's life when people try to figure out the universe, their place in it and whether everything in their lives is random or predetermined in some fashion.
Imagine then, if you could hire someone to find those answers for you. Such people exist in "I ♥ Huckabees" (pronounced "I Heart Huckabees), the latest comedy from David O. Russell, the director of "Three Kings" and "Flirting with Disaster." Working from a script he co-wrote with Jeff Baena (who makes his debut), the filmmaker has concocted what's being billed as an existential comedy featuring, you guessed it, existential detectives.
There's no doubt that this is one of the stranger and more innovative comedies to be released since the likes of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and especially "Being John Malkovich." Imaginative, heady and more than a tad quirky, the film will remind some/many of those pictures for being so odd that it can't help but be intriguing. It also features a terrific cast and certainly scores points for its novelty factor.
Thus, it's all the more disappointing that it isn't better than it turns out to be. That's not meant to imply that it's bad, but rather that it could have been so much more (and maybe even a comedy classic) with a more focused script and, dare I say, even a bit more imagination, at least of the cohesive type.
The film's biggest fault -- much like a philosophical college bull session -- is that it feels like it's all over the map in its scope and goals. It's certainly never boring and has some fun and entertaining individual moments. Yet, it does meander at times both within and between the various topics it addresses. Some off-shoot parts are natural extensions of the main material, but others feel present just to add some humor (and there's nothing wrong with that) or even more quirkiness (a little of which, it turns out, goes a long way as the goofy title treatment proves).
Jason Schwartzman ("Slackers," "Rushmore") plays the lead character that -- in a performance that will intrigue or irritate viewers -- sets the ball in motion by hiring the team of married existential detectives to figure out what's happening in as well as what's wrong in his life. That duo is played by Dustin Hoffman ("Runaway Jury," "Confidence") and Lily Tomlin ("Tea with Mussolini," "Flirting with Disaster") who are obviously having a great deal of fun embodying their -- natch -- quirky characters.
Once that premise is established, there are all sorts of fun, funny and/or at least interesting developments along the way. I just wish the script were tighter once the various subplots -- featuring the likes of Jude Law ("Alfie," "Cold Mountain"), Mark Wahlberg ("The Italian Job," "Rock Star") and Naomi Watts ("21 Grams," "Le Divorce") -- were added to the mix. I'm guessing the filmmakers were trying to created a convoluted atmosphere (to go along with the various characters' states), but it's hard to tell if they also wanted "muddled" to be a descriptive term for their work.
Diehard fans of Russell and his uniquely concocted films may be in cinematic nirvana with this offering, but others may walk away scratching their heads, wondering what it was all about and/or supposed to signify, while some may not find it to their liking at all. I found myself falling somewhere in between. I loved the overall idea, as well as various bits and pieces of the film, along with some of the performances.
At the same time, though, I found the film seeming too self-conscious of itself and in particular, its want and need to exude as much quirkiness as possible. When such a state naturally and effortlessly oozes from a production, it's a welcomed and often entertaining result.
If it feels manipulated, however, the effect is lessened a bit as it no longer feels natural, but rather too calculated and manufactured. I wish I could say that I ♥ "I ♥ Huckabees" with all of my ♥, but in the end I found it to be that odd sort of character that you only view as a distant if interesting acquaintance that you don't mind meeting, but don't really need to see again. The film rates as a 5.5 out of 10.
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