I Heart Huckabees (2004)

Starring Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, and Naomi Watts.  Cinematography by Peter Deming.  Edited by Robert K. Lambert.  Produced by Gregory Goodman, Scott Rudin, and David O. Russell. Written by Jeff Baena and David O. Russell.  Directed by David O. Russell.

Albert Markovski (played by Jason Schwartzman) has run into the same tall African man (played by Ger Duany) three times now. He refuses to pass this off as a simple coincidence and is convinced that there is a deep underlying significance to the situation.  To aid him in his quest for answers he hires Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (played by Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin), the Existential Detectives, to investigate.

The Jaffes do not seem to be interested in Albert’s coincidence; instead they dig deeper, searching for the meaning of his life, the enigma of his consciousness, and his interconnectedness with the universe.  Along the course of the investigation Albert is introduced to Caterine Vauban (played by Isabelle Huppert), an ex-student of the Jaffes, who subscribes to an entirely opposite view of reality. Albert is now forced to choose between the two schools of thought while his sanity hangs in the balance.

David O. Russell, the son of a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, grew up in an atheist household. The mixture of beliefs that surrounded him in his adolescence laid a foundation for a spiritual curiosity that has consumed him throughout his adult life.  This ethereal journey eventually found a leader in a college professor named Robert Thurman (Uma Thurman’s father).  Thurman quenched Russell’s thirst for answers by providing him an understanding of philosophical ideology and religious dogma.

Years later, after finding his calling in filmmaking, Russell would work to summarize his beliefs into a script.  He wrote a short film that took place in a diner where people would eavesdrop in on the patron’s conversations. They would then custom fit each individual with their own personalized fortune cookie. Russell liked the idea, but struggled with the overall story and eventually shelved it. 

He later worked on a screenplay that would take place in a Zen center similar to the one he visited in New York, but nothing would come of that either. Over a decade after his first attempt Russell would be motivated by a dream to rework his metaphysical film.  From this dream came the concept of the “existential detectives” and I Heart Huckabees was born.

Whether you like his film or hate it, Russell should be commended for opening up his own spiritual struggles for discussion and criticism.  In a world where philosophically driven films seems to focus entirely on characters with dark existences and depressing realities, I Heart Huckabees shines as a totem of originality.  It’s all too infrequent to find someone ambitious enough to put something as personal as their beliefs up on the screen and encourage you to laugh at them. 

This is not to say that the movie will become a life changing event for everyone who sees it.  Many have referred to it as pretentious and self indulgent.  But for those who can see the film as a discussion of ideas outside of a predictable context, you just may see what it is that Russell is trying to say.

Budget: $20,000,000

Total US Gross: $12,784,713

Genre: Comedy

Runtime: 106 Minutes

US Release Date: 10/22/04

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Awards: none

Tagline: An Existential Comedy.

Quote: “There's nothing too small.  You know when police find the slightest bit of DNA and build a case on it? If we might see you… you floss or masturbate, that could be the key to your entire reality.”