my review from
here:
‘Fuckin’ cocksucker motherfuckin’ shitfucker!’
It’s the opening line of I Heart Huckabees, and I will love it forever. Of course, I enjoy anything controversial anyway, but the point of this – the introduction to director David O. Russell’s ‘existential comedy’ (he of Three Kings fame) – is not just to raise the audience’s ire. Instead, it’s merely an introduction to Jason Schwartzman’s Albert – a character plagued by self-doubt and bureaucratic anxiety. ‘What am I doing, what am I doing?’ he asks. If you don’t like him right away, you should probably turn it off.
Albert is the self-effacing, yet somehow optimistic – even in the face of all that’s against him – archetype that I think we’ve all seen before. He’s not annoyingly miserable though, and in the way that you have to root for the underdog, you want Albert to succeed. Albert is head of the ‘Open Spaces Coalition’, a collective attempting to bring back, or conserve, the open spaces of nature in this, the big world of corporate shopping malls and endless asphalt. Of course, it’s not quite as easy as he hopes, despite his best efforts. Schwartzman is as likeable as ever, and his puppy-dog eyes never better suited for a role.
Still, this is a film that you’ll either love or hate. As with other similarly eccentric pictures – philosophically Richard Linklater’s Waking Life springs to mind, whereas its quirks bring visions of Kaufman wunderkind Being John Malkovich and Adaptation – you’ll either get this, or spend the rest of your days attempting to understand the appeal. There are no falsities in this movie. Writer and director Russell directly takes credit for several of the film’s more provocative lines – Tommy’s (Mark Wahlberg) reaction to September 11 amongst them, and whilst the philosophical meanderings can sometimes be confusing, the characters – nor Russell himself – never lack conviction.
A criticism often levelled at the film is that its characters are little more than mouthpieces for Russell’s philosophical musings. But such comments miss the point entirely. Of course, most of the viewpoints in Huckabees are different sides of the same coin, but it never comes across as dry or academic – the characters are fresh and believable. Surely, this is as much a credit to Russell’s writing ability as it is to his casting – most of the big name stars coming on board for significantly less money than usual, always a sure sign of confidence in the project.
And ensemble casts don’t often come together like this one. Seminal director Robert Altman does it effortlessly (but since he’s been doing it for 30 years, he’d probably want to) – but David O. Russell has managed to pull this together with ease. When you’re getting stars to the calibre of Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, and Lily Tomlin – to name but a few – then you’re probably headed in the right direction. The performances are, in a word, flawless. It’s hard to pinpoint anything in particular – Hoffman and Tomlin play their existential detectives (no, they’re absolutely not therapists, as they point out with mortification) to a tee, and it’s difficult to imagine anybody else in Schwartzman’s role – but it’s Jude Law who’ll keep you thinking the most afterwards. As the commentaries bring to attention, it’s Law’s character – Brad, the conceited but much-admired executive at Huckabees – which has the most depth to it. Schwartzman’s Albert is cute, layered, and thoughtful, but he just doesn’t approach the character progression that Brad takes.
The aesthetic is distinctly European. Stealing fashions from influential surrealist (and co-worker of Dali) Luis Bunuel’s 1972 film The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Huckabees has a subtle, muted colour scheme, more devoid of anything colourful than it is full of the dull greys and pastels. If there were one criticism, this would be it: despite the fact that it looks beautiful, and suitably ‘arty’, the visual presentation doesn’t really seem to fit with the thematic. Certainly, one can appreciate Russell’s respectful visual homage to Bunuel, but when the entire point of Albert, the protagonist’s, perspective on the world is in seeing things brightly, in colour – and above all with life, one wonders if it perhaps misses the point. Certainly, the use of red at poignant moments is a godsend, but the resonance is sadly underused.
But really, that’s the only fault you’ll find. Huckabees is a film that should make Russell proud of his life’s work. Previously he’s directed Three Kings and Flirting With Disaster – both fantastic. But now there’s something else; Russell seems to have made the film of his life, and it’s something to be very, very proud of.
