#4 i ♥ huckabees

David O. Russell might be the biggest asshole in Hollywood. Apparently, on the set of Three Kings, he started choking George Clooney. When he heard that Jude Law was leaving i ♥ huckabees (pronounced I Heart Huckabees and it will be referred to as I Heart Huckabees for the rest of this post) for a role in The Prestige, he apparently got Christopher Nolan into a headlock. And during the filming of I Heart Huckabees, he got into a couple of feuds with Lily Tomlin. If you haven't seen it or heard it, I suggest you check it out.

But the craziest people are often the smartest. I Heart Huckabees is a weird movie. But it's just so original that I don't understand how people can't appreciate it.

Jason Schwartzman plays Albert Markovski; the type of ultra-environmentalist who rides a bike to work. Albert is in charge of an "Open Spaces Coalition" and is trying to put a stop to the building of a new Wal-Mart type store called Huckabees. Jude Law is an executive at Huckabees and gets rid of Albert by wooing the coalition with his Jude Law-ish charm, and becomes their leader.

Albert is having a crisis and visits a pair of "existential detectives" played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman. They tell Albert that everything in the world is connected and that everything has a purpose. They pair him up with Tommy, an anti-firetruck firefighter played by Mark Wahlberg. Tomlin and Hoffman inspect every inch of their customers lives to find out what will make their clients happier.

Eventually, Albert and Tommy become disenchanted with the philosophy of the existential detectives and meet up with a woman who believes in the glass half-empty approach. After going through both groups of therapy, Albert and Tommy draw their own conclusions about how to deal with their current situations as well as life in general.

In case you didn't realize it based on the cast, this movie has wonderful performances. Everyone is incredible including Naomi Watts, who plays Jude Law's girlfriend and the voice of the Huckabees commercials. But there is something that is so interesting about Jason Schwartzmann. He's not a typical great actor. Maybe what makes him so entertaining is that he comes off as such a nice and innocent guy, despite the seriousness and passion that he puts into his acting. I don't know if Schwartzmann intends for the audience to not take him seriously, but either way, he's so much fun to watch.

Many critics blasted this movie for being too existential, nihilistic, transcendental, or whatever. But the biggest thing they missed is that it's tongue-in-cheek. Yes, the movie does go into many philosophical conversations. But it also mocks them. There is a scene where Albert and Tommy conclude that the answer to everything is smacking themselves in the face with a dodgeball. How could anybody take that seriously?

I Heart Huckabees has incredible performances, an insanely original plot, and even manages to explore the meaning of existence in a humorous, non-pretentious way.

"How am I not myself?"