What to Stream: A Gonzo Comedy About the Meaning of Life, 'I Heart Huckabees'
I Heart Huckabees (2004) Amazon Instant, iTunes, and YouTube
The Basics: A wild, weird ride with Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, and Jason Schwartzman; directed by David O. Russell
If You Liked: Flirting with Disaster, El Topo, and Me and You and Everyone We Know
The Nugget: A loopy comedy about a married couple (Tomlin and Hoffman) who work as self-styled “existential detectives” and investigate the confused mental states of some very screwed-up people.
More people probably viewed the infamous video of Russell cussing out Tomlin on the set of Huckabees than saw the actual film, a screwball comedy about an environmentalist (Schwartzman) who hires a pair of existential detectives to help him discover the meaning of life. And as entertaining (in a cringe-inducing way) as that clip is, the movie is doubly so, proving that great art can emerge from the most contentious circumstances. There’s no question that Huckabees is a deeply strange movie, so strange that even Russell has essentially disowned it in recent years, especially now that he’s tasted mainstream success via hits like Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. (At an AFI event last year, he told the crowd, “I overthought it too much.”) But it’s also incredibly revealing of the way human beings engage — or, in some cases, don’t engage — with the world around them. Additionally, Huckabees is a showcase for some wonderfully gonzo comic performances, from Hoffman and Tomlin to Law, Watts, and, best of all, Wahlberg, who steals every scene he’s in as a firefighter who is adamantly opposed to petroleum. Russell has certainly made smoother, more professional movies than Huckabees, but this one remains a lovely, messy original.
Photo credit: Everett Collection
