Genre: Comedy, Detectives, Surreal, Marriage
Tagline: An existential comedy
Plot: Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), head of the Open Spaces Coalition, has been experiencing an alarming series of coincidences the meaning of which escapes him. With the help of two Existential Detectives, Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin), Albert examines his life, his relationships, and his conflict with Brad Stand (Jude Law), an executive climbing the corporate ladder at Huckabees, a popular chain of retail superstores. When Brad also hires the detectives, they dig deep into his seemingly perfect life and his relationship with his spokesmodel girlfriend, the voice of Huckabees, Dawn Campbell (Naomi Watts). Albert pairs up with rebel firefighter Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg) to take matters into their own hands under the guidance of the Jaffes’ nemesis, the French radical Caterine Vauban (Isabelle
More Plot Descriptions
 |
Behind the Scenes:
Read more about the production
| |
 Discussion forum for this movie
|
| |
 The high-wire comedy ''I Huckabees'' captures liberal-left despair with astonishingly good humor: it's ''Fahrenheit 9/11'' for the screwball set.--Manohla Dargis (The New York Times)
Like all non-mainstream comedies, Huckabees can be considered an acquired taste. I'll admit that a lot of people are going to describe it as a waste of time, yet there's a likeability to the quirky characters that held my interest while tickling my funnybone.  --James Berardinelli (ReelViews)
There's not much to heart about David O. Russell's latest effort, in which he sets actors Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman woefully adrift.--Stephanie Zacharek (Salon)
In a way, there's something admirably pure about this film. It doesn't mess around in the middle zone of mediocrity. It's uncompromisingly bad, single-mindedly off-target. And you're either going to hate this thing or, well, I don't even want to finish that thought.--Desson Thomson (Washington Post)
Some people will ask why they spent an hour and forty-five minutes being engulfed in this nonsense, while others will like its ingenious approach and carry an even greater appreciation for David O. Russell. B--Lee Tistaert (Lee's Movie Info)
This was well-written. It was well-directed. It tackled huge concepts and themes. It was downright ambitous. But it wasn't Vin Deisel making wise cracks or Julia Roberts being pretty. Huckabees is high-brow and will test the audience as to how much theory they're willing to take during their ride to escape reality. Highlights from begining to end. 7/10--'Cinema Guru Boy' (JackassCritics.com)
To put it simply, I’d rather be chained to a pipe in the basement of a madman than sit through ‘I Heart Huckabees’ again.  --Joe Rickey (Movie-Gurus.com)
I Heart Huckabees, a self-described (i.e., self-indulgent) “existential comedy” by writer/director David O. Russell, ambitiously attempts to insert philosophical ideas and concepts, drawn from both Eastern and Western traditions, into a Hollywood, mainstream film, with mixed, often contradictory, results.--Mel Valentin (Movie-Vault.com)
The bottom line is that I Heart Huckabees is just too experimental to appeal to a wide selection of viewers, though there's no denying this is a love-it-or-hate-it sort of affair.--David Nusair (Reel Film Reviews)
I HEART HUCKABEES is a comedy of ideas that is as likely to provoke a hmmm as a giggle, the which is what I suspect Russell is going for. He’s achieved something remarkable here. He’s taken philosophy and made it what it should have been all along, a wayof looking at the world that enriches daily life, not a dusty set of rules with no relevance beyond the ivory tower.  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews)
And if you find the movie's almost-lecturing pretentious, the multitude of funny jokes probably won't make up for it, nor will the semi-buried treasures of Naomi Watts's and Mark Wahlberg's performances. If you don't, though, you'll probably enjoy a movie that is frequently silly but almost never stupid.  --Jay Seaver (eFilmCritic.com)
With a cast and director this talented, it’s really too bad that I (HEART) HUCKABEES becomes a pointless exercise in padding out thin philosophizing into a two hour film that should have ended right around the 90 minute mark, if not sooner.  --Brian McKay (eFilmCritic.com)
I HEART HUCKABEES is riddled with ambiguity, but perhaps the absurdness it endures, and the mixed messages it sends, hold more truth to the universe and human existence than any simple mythology or clear cut story. --Laura Kyle (eFilmCritic.com)
|
| Written by |
David O. Russell
Three Kings, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Flirting with Disaster | |
|
| Cast |
|
 | |
 | |
 | |
 | Jude Law
Artificial Intelligence: AI, Road to Perdition, The Aviator |
 | |
 | |
 | |
[more] |
|
| Music By |
Jon Brion
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love |
|
| This film begs at least a second, if not a third, viewing – it is more sophisticated then it lets on and regards its philosophical themes without a pretentious air. Its unapologetic absurdity is its most redeeming quality and also maybe it’s most profound philosophical statement as well. --Josh Gryniewicz (eFilmCritic.com)
"I Heart Huckabees" is rewarding in its philosophies, but it's also a brutally funny, original and well-acted film, and it contains a music score by Jon Brion that is just another addition to his fantastic soundtrack resume. And it all comes from a director who knows how to tell a great story, which is what we need more of in this day and age. This is one of the year's best films. --Jason Whyte (eFilmCritic.com)
“I ♥ Huckabees” is quirky enough for me to recommend it -- Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin are especially a treat -- but its self-satisfied braininess diminishes what could have been a truly wonderful film. B---Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com)
"Huckabees," in which characters deconstruct various schools of philosophical thought in hopes of finding inner peace, is the cinematic equivalent of the mad-scientist experiment gone awry.  --Jami Bernard (New York Daily News)
An extremely enjoyable, if thoroughly bizarre comedy, I Heart Huckabees combines slapstick humour, a witty, off-the-wall script and a collection of wonderful performances from its superb ensemble cast. --Matthew Turner (ViewLondon)
The frantic nuttiness of the stylistically dynamic "Huckabees" is often laugh-out-loud funny, but amid the pandemonium there's a sense of truly rigorous soul-searching. --Megan Lehmann (New York Post)
This intelligent and quirky trip beneath the surface of human existence is either a profound marvel or a meaningless absurdity - but either way, that's life, and ain't life funny! 8/10--Anton Bitel (Movie Gazette)
|
|
Movie Database
In Theaters
