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  • Film & TV Moderators: ghostfreak

Film: I (*heart*) Huckabees

rate the film

  • [img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img]

    Votes: 3 5.7%
  • [img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img][img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img]

    Votes: 11 20.8%
  • [img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img][img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img][img]http://i1

    Votes: 11 20.8%
  • [img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img][img]http://i1.bluelight.nu/pi/16.gif[/img][img]http://i1

    Votes: 28 52.8%

  • Total voters
    53
"How am I not my self?"

"How am I not my self?"

"How am I not my self?"

"How am I not my self?"

"How am I not my self?"

"How am I not my self?"

I just viddied this over the weekend and this is is by far one of the best movies I have ever watched; no joke. I've watched plenty of movies very few came close to the intellectual and emotional impact this film did. I rate this up there with "American Beauty" and "What the Bleep Do We Know?"
 
This is MY coincidence!

This was a very enjoyable film. Good cast, interesting plot, I think I had a smile on my dial the whole way through, though it wasn't 'Laugh Out Loud Funny' or whatever the cover proclaimed.

I must've read the original post months ago, so wasn't expecting anything awesome and as a result I wasn't disappointed in the least! I enjoyed the half arsed philosophy, it was all basic stuff everybody knows already which I'm sure my 'other' who watched with me already knew too. So it wasn't profound or anything just pretty entertaining. And it's fun having basic truths compounded when you aren't expecting anything.

Worth a watch.
 
I didn't particularly enjoy this one. The pseudo-intellectual pomp really grated on me for some reason. I didn't like the whole whimsical tone of the film either.
**
 
^ that`s exactly it, it was so NOT intellectual that it was funny, and the characters were perfect depictions of obsessed pseudo-intellectuals that live in their own private mental head fuck.
 
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.
 
I need to buy this and watch it again at leats another 5 times.
This movie was awesome, can't believe it took me so long to see it, I had no idea it was any good.
Thought it was just another silly hollywood flick.
I agree with almost all of the above positive comments.
I'd post more but i need to see it again.
So much in this movie.
 
that`s exactly it, it was so NOT intellectual that it was funny, and the characters were perfect depictions of obsessed pseudo-intellectuals that live in their own private mental head fuck.

Exactly. :)

I really loved this film, and definitely laughed out loud on more than one occasion. The scene around the dinner table was fantastic. lol

Excellent stuff. :D
 
I absolutly loved this film. A nice mix of comedy, a basic look at some interesting philosophies, and a great cast. Spot on.
 
i heard a lot of great things about this movie from one particular person whose taste in movies i tend to respect and share. but... i really didn't like this movie. i found it to be boring and dry. i definitely zoned out at a few parts. i'm glad i just saw it on cable and didn't buy it.
 
Three stars.

I thought it was good, but not great. I love the twist at the end, and how the film's characters basically explore themselves through the course of the movie. Still, there were times it felt like a sitcom, and I would have liked just a little more depth to the main characters; as is, at times they felt like ciphers meant to illustrate a point, rather than real people.

I'd watch it again in a minute, though. :)
 
This film is terrible.

There were a few memorable parts ("How am I not myself?") and Mark Wahlberg was surprisingly good but the writing was total garbage. This is like the kind of script Charlie Kaufman would write if he had Down Syndrome.

SardonicNihilist said:
that`s exactly it, it was so NOT intellectual that it was funny, and the characters were perfect depictions of obsessed pseudo-intellectuals that live in their own private mental head fuck.

I agree, that would be funny, or somewhat funny, but I don't buy it for a second. I would bet anything that the tripe in this movie represents David O. Russell's actual beliefs. As AF pointed out, he is a douche:

Anarchofascist said:
I didn't see this movie, but I watched the Charlie Rose interview of Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin and David O. Russell and I couldn't believe that two brilliant, witty actors were taking direction from such a pompous little prick. Maybe they confused his obnoxious arrogance with simple youthful hubris.

The worst was when he started talking about how quantum physics proves Buddhism too be true. (Yes, I have read "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" by Gary Zukav. I only finished the tripe because I was in jail and didn't have much to read. It was complete bullshit.) If someone is spouting off on Zen and quantum mechanics, they get a gigantic intellectual cockslap from me and I no longer have any respect whatsoever for them (unless they are on acid at the time.)

What a pile of shit.
 
I really enjoyed this film, its not the type of movie that i would watch again but i thought it was brilliant how the characters lives all fell into the right place in the end with hillarious results
 
best marky mark preformance to date... period.

I enjoyed the movie, especially the concept of existential investigators, and the humor behind them. Did anyone else find the two investigators to be the characters that evolved the most throughout the movie?

Of course, it wasn't very deep, more of a romantic comedy with less emphasis on the relationship between two people and more emphasis on the relationship one has with oneself.

Fav line "How can I not be myself?"
 
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