I Heart Huckabees [DVD] [2004]

I Heart Hukabees follows a young environmental(ist? conservationist?) trying to save a forest and some Marsh land who is convinced the repeated sighting of an ethiopian doorman is a hint that what he is doing isn't worthwhile. He Contacts Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin's 'Existential Detectives'. Through them we meet Tommy, a petrolium hating fireman with a short fuse and are gradually introduced to the people Albert is forced to deal with.

The characters are really perfectly cast. Jude Law is in his element as a smug corprate hack, lets face it he's far too pretty to feel sympathetic towards. Dustin Hoffman is fantastic as Bernard portraying a strange, layed back enthusiasm and Naomi Watts is surprisingly game for making herself look utterly ridiculous. The film really rest on the shoulders of Schwartzman and Wahlberg though, the latter being the real massive surprise of the film since he gives by far the best performance of his career.

The music is very impressive. Multi instrumentalist Jon Brion provides a score that can sound quaint one minute then epic and bewildering the next. The DVD also gives an insight into the reording process, the video for 'Knock Yourself Out' and a little infomercial in which he sits at the side on a stool playing songs from the film in the breaks.

Go into this looking for a coherent plot and you're going to be dissapointed. Go Into this looking for a meaning of life and you'll feel the same way. But if you know what to expect from the so called 'American New Wave' of the late 90s that David O Russel is apparently a part of, it'll make you laugh and maybe even give up using petrol

'I Heart Huckabees' is in an unfortunate predicament because it has the kind of cast that will attract a mainstream audience, but the kind of plot and ideology that will alienate anyone hoping for a pedestrian hour and a half of Jude Law ogling.

Jason Schwartzmann was the star of Wes Anderson's 'Rushmore' and is a tried hand at this kind of screwball, odd-com - David O. Russell's film is very much along the lines of Anderson's better works, 'Rushmore' and 'The Royal Tenenbaums' included.

Naomi Watts and Jude Law are wonderfully plastic as the beautiful people at Huckabees (the fact that neither are American actors, both 'putting on' the accent, certainly helps). Mark Wahlberg is given a role that doesn't expose his acting weaknesses, instead playing to his strengths - he is all anger, confusion, and childish simplicity. Isabelle Huppert and Dustin Hoffman are delightful in supporting roles.

But where this film particularly excels is, despite what other reviews suggest, in the plot. It starts with an hilariously off-beat premise - hiring an 'existential detective' to follow you around and pick apart the fabric of your life. It deliberately jars, plays to slapstick, and presents massive questions of existence through a rhetoric of quirkiness. It seems to be going nowhere, but in a manner that seems almost accidental, unites the different narrative threads and delivers a subtle, heart-warming conclusion that, despite its philosophical triumphs, doesn't resort to self-congratulation.

There's a blend of overblown mock-gravitas and understated beauty in 'I Heart Huckabees' that shouldn't be underestimated. A pleasantly remarkable film.

But if you want a night in reminding yourself of how much you're in love with Jude Law, you're better off just watching 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' for nth time.