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Unconventional comedies always risk alienating viewers if they are too self-aware, too iconoclastic, or too precious. I Heart Huckabees manages to satisfy while being all three, thanks to a quirky script, David O. Russell’s insouciant direction, and the deft performances of a star-studded ensemble cast. The story -- and we use the word “story” lightly -- opens with environmental activist Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) hiring husband-and-wife “existential detectives” Bernard (Dustin Hoffman) and Vivian (Lily Tomlin) to investigate recurring coincidences in his life. Albert gets megastore chain Huckabees to underwrite his cause, though it's apparent smooth-talking executive Brad Stand (Jude Law) has done so only to create a caring façade for the company. Meanwhile, Brad has a thing for model Dawn Campbell (Naomi Watts), the face of Huckabees in TV commercials and print ads. Their relationship hits a bad patch right around the time Albert shows up at a corporate meeting with newfound friend Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg), a burned-out firefighter and fellow client of the existential detectives. Is your head spinning yet? Don’t expect Huckabees to make sense; it’s not that kind of movie. The “gags” are cerebral, and Russell’s actors, who seem to be having the time of their lives, deliver them with a loony, deadpan charm. Some people are likely to find this film off-putting, but we recommend Huckabees because it’s getting tougher to find comedies that force their viewers to think and don’t rely on toilet humor for cheap laughs. The film may not be totally successful, but it’s certainly daring and provocative -- qualities rarely ascribed to contemporary comedies. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Five years after achieving commercial and critical success with his film Three Kings, director and screenwriter David O. Russell returns to the more idiosyncratic territory of his earlier work with this intelligent and offbeat comedy. Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) are a married couple who run an existential detective agency where they sift through the lives of their clients in order to discover the source of their angst. The Jaffes' latest client is Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), an environmental activist who has a very large rock and a great deal on his mind; their study of Albert's problems lead Bernard and Vivian to Brad Stand (Jude Law), a public relations executive with a chain of successful variety stores, Huckabees. While publicly allying himself with Albert's environmental initiatives, behind the scenes Brad is running roughshod over responsible land management with little care for the consequences. When Brad learns he's being watched by the Jaffes, he hopes to co-opt them by hiring them himself; however, the plan has unexpected consequences when their questioning leads Brad's girlfriend, well-scrubbed model Dawn (Naomi Watts), into reassessing her life and relationships. Meanwhile, Albert finds himself joining forces with Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), a firefighter and fellow environmentalist who has been having second thoughts about Bernard and Vivian's ideas and methods after a long-term investigation and has since fallen under the spell of nihilist poet and philosopher Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert). Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 024543169482
• Source: 20TH CENTURY FOX
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Pan & Scan, Wide Screen
• Language: English
• Time: 1:46:00
• Sales Rank: 14,890

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• I Heart Huckabees / Le Divorce

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