A Review by Phil Calabro
2004, Fox Searchlight, Dir. David O. Russell - Starring Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg, Isabelle Huppert, Angela Grillo, Darlene Hunt, Kevin Dunn, Benny Hernandez, Jake Muxworthy
I hope most directors have not decided to cash in on the 'quirky comedy' business for a while, judging on the style of 'Huckabees', because it simply won't work. If done the same way, it will become even more awkward than its predecessor. I generally can't stand movies that are pretentious, but then there are those that delibrately exhibits its self-coined 'smartness', so much that it can't handle the load. What's so profound? Nothing. 'Huckabees' is completely void of making a realistic statement due its excessive silliness.
Albert Markovski (Schwartzman) is a neurotic, simple-minded environmentalist who is pushed around by his wimpy standards and esteem. He spends his day writing terrible poetry about nature and tries to save agriculture, trees, and other various objects of the outdoors. But when he runs into the same African man three times on coincidence, he feels there is something more to it. He hires two 'existentialist detectives' (as silly as they may sound, you can see the intellect rating going up..*rolls eyes*) who decide not to just help Albert identify the coincidence, but the arrangement of his life ordeals, such as dealing with top boss Brad Stand (Law), who treats Albert like trash when it comes to setting an environmental pack, also Dawn (Watts), Brad's girlfriend, and his relationship with an angry firefighter Tommy Corn (Wahlberg).
If there's one thing that's very enjoyable about the film, it's some of the cast members. Jason Schwartzman may be quirky and neurotic, but he does it in such moderation that he's really funny to watch. His silly cursing rages and nonviolent responses to everything give a dash of hilarity to many situations. Mark Wahlberg, probably one of the worst actors in Hollywood today, has finally given a great performance as the petroleum-hating Tommy Corn. Although he has trouble working out his anger, he's remarkably fuzzy as the gruff and crabby Tom. His friendship with Albert has great platonic chemistry in itself. Two big disappointments came from Lily Tomlin (who I've never found to be that funny) and Dustin Hoffman. They both become rather annoying to sit and watch as they snoop around their client's lives - almost to the point that you begin to hate the people who are supposed to unify the situations. Jude Law is funny as the devilishly evil boss of a local Huckabee's department store, but Law's accent seems to waver, losing his character a bit.
This movie has all the characteristics of an 'intelligent' film - all of them which lead to the movie's subsequent downfall. The first is the use of awkward silences. Silences should only be used sparingly, especially when in a time of dramatic events, not whenever the characters just keep looking at one another - Russell wants to waste our time looking at their stupid little faces rather than getting something accomplished. Secondly, conversations about very random situations. Cats, Dixie Chicks, and other dumb minutiae are crunched into the screen time to just show how much everything can be connected in a smart film. In turn, it makes it looks very silly especially when the minutiae has absolutely nothing to do with the film itself. And lastly, most important: philosophical trash. People come to a movie to understand it, not to ponder on their lives or screw around with their sense of intuition and choice - Russell has marketed a limited film for everybody, assuming everything would make complete sense. Instead, I felt like I was reading a page out of a Dr. Benjamin Spock booklet or something.
Every minute that passes seems to add another ounce of oddity onto 'Huckabees'. In the end, its pretentiousness grows to a certain width in which it pops and ruins all possibility of being good. Despite having its excellent casting job, this one is still an unfinished and unfurbished piece of work. Good try though.
1.5/4 stars
