Product Details

• Actors: Jason Schwartzman, Isabelle Huppert, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law
• Format: NTSC
• Language: English, French, Spanish
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (200 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005JNDE
• For more information about "I Heart Huckabees" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Billed as "an existential comedy," I Heart Huckabees is a flawed yet endearingly audacious screwball romp that dares to ponder life's biggest questions. Much of director David O. Russell's philosophical humor is dense, talky, and impenetrable, leading critic Roger Ebert to observe that "it leaves the viewer out of the loop," and suggesting that Russell's screenplay (written with his assistant, Jeff Baena) is admirably bold yet frustratingly undisciplined. Russell's ideas are big but his expression of them is frenetic, centering on the unlikely pairing of an environmentalist (Jason Schwartzman) and a firefighter (Mark Wahlberg) as they depend on existential detectives (Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman) and a French nihilist (Isabelle Huppert) to make sense of their existential crises, brought on (respectively) by a two-faced chain-store executive (Jude Law) and his spokesmodel girlfriend (Naomi Watts), and the aftermath of 9/11's terrorism. No brief description can do justice to Russell's comedic conceit; you'll either be annoyed and mystified or elated and delighted by this wacky primer for coping with 21st century lunacy. Deserving of its mixed reviews, I Heart Huckabees is an audacious mess, like life itself, and accepting that is the key to enjoying both. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

David O. Russell's new satire is an authentic disaster peppered with many odd and brilliant moments. The characters, skittering along the edges of the frame, speak only about Big Ideas, say everything four times, quarrel at the drop of a non sequitur, and have sex in uncomfortable places. The hero, one Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), is the head of an open-spaces conservation group, and he makes a deal with a rising young executive (Jude Law) at Huckabees, a superstore chain, to preserve some woods. Yet Albert, a surly little hysteric, feels lost, so he hires two "existential detectives" (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to find out what's wrong with him. The true existentialist, however, is Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert), a sexy philosophe in a limo who believes that life (as it says on her business card) is "cruelty, manipulation, meaninglessness." She and Albert make love on a log. There's much more, all of it devoted to a quarrel between two philosophical viewpoints-that everything is connected and that everything is separate. Russell embraces both sides-there are messy scenes in which everyone talks at once and saner moments, when the eccentricities of the individual characters stand out. With Mark Wahlberg, who is touching and funny as a fireman with nothing on his mind but petroleum. Jeff Baena worked on the garrulous screenplay with Russell. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Test Whether You'll Love or Hate this Love It or Hate It Movie, July 30, 2006

By 

Danusha Goska (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Heart Huckabees (DVD)

"I Heart Huckabees" is the ultimate love it / hate it movie. Few will say, "I could either go see 'I Heart Huckabees' or whatever else is playing at the multiplex."

Me? I loved "I Heart Huckabees." I loved it so much I can't even review it. I loved every performance, every line of dialogue; I loved it so much I want to form a club with others who loved this movie ... Normally, I can't stand Jason Schwartzman, and even he didn't ruin it for me.

How can you tell which camp you'll fall into? Here's a test. Agree or Disagree with the following statements:

1.) My friends and family tell me I think too much, and that my life would be much easier if I would just relax and not rock the boat.

2.) I've tried meditation, but gotten sidetracked when I found myself imagining taking a machete to people who annoy me.

3.) I could pick Franz Kafka out of a line-up that included Jean Paul Satre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Buster Keaton.

4.) The thought of sex with a nihilist leaves me contemplating nothingness, and yet strangely aroused.

5.) I've always wanted to see Marky Mark bicycle in fireman's knee-high rubber boots, while protesting the world petroleum crisis.

6.) I once lost a girlfriend / boyfriend to someone who was cover-model pretty / handsome, but had no soul, and that, yet again, caused me to think too much, and then to meditate, and then to imagine the whole machete thing.

7.) I think that the objectification of women is shallow and obscene, and Amish bonnets turn me on.

8.) Dustin Hoffman does a faux friendly, "I've got your nuts in my cracker" smile better and better as he ages.

9.) Lily Tomlin is reason enough to see any movie.

10.) Cruely, Manipulation, Meaninglessness.

Give yourself as many points as you want for each "yes" answer, and then give yourself an equal number of points for each "no" answer. Cause, you know? It's all one.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In my crazy world, weird = compelling..., December 28, 2005

By 

D. Gold "Davey Boy" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Heart Huckabees (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Let me start off by saying, if you like "weird" movies that tend to draw a cult following (i.e. Napoleon Dynamite), you SHOULD love this gem. I did. If you want to know what the movie is about, read the back of the display case or any of the hundred or so reviews on Amazon.com. Let me provide you with some compelling reasons to purchase this disc: 1) Make no mistake, this film is WEIRD; 2) It has an underlying feel-good tone, making it a perfect flick to come home to after a crappy day at the office; 3) It ranks high on the "re-watchability" scale; 4) While the humor isn't for everyone, those that do find it funny, find it EXTREMELY funny; 5) The cinematography was very interesting and incorporated elements that I had never seen before in a film; 6) The soundtrack made an already funny film, funnier (and weirder); 7) The star-studded cast really nailed their roles; 8) I'd buy it for the "dinner scene" alone. All in all, this movie isn't for everyone, but those who enjoy it, enjoy it immensely. Please feel free to disagree with my opinion; let us compare opinions, invite a few more points of view, and debate, like the humans we are.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This IS a DIVINE COMEDY!!, June 27, 2005

By 

Griot Lover (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Heart Huckabees (Two-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Thank you for I (HEART) Huckabees! Any attempt to consider the kinds of questions this film takes on are always welcome in my home. I was happy to see such a talented and varied team of professionals working on this film. This is a testament to their own open-mindedness and courage. I was fascinated throughout, not only by the performances of the actors, but also by the way in which the screenwriter presented his ideas...and the music...that was pretty cool too.

The film has been recapped already in these reviews. I have a checklist of who I think would particularly like this movie:

1. Anybody going through a big transition in their life (death, breakup of a relationsihp, change of work, moving).

2. Anybody who hears, contemplates or practices the teachings of Buddhism in all of its garden variety manifestations.

3. Anybody who knows they survived a difficult childhood (in one way or the other).

4. Anybody into philosophy - particularly Existentialism or other Eastern philosophies besides Buddhism - like Hinduism or Zen.

5. Anybody who wonders why I have not included their particular "TRIP" in this check list: so if you are a Southern Baptist, an inmate on Rikers Island, a European financier, a female CEO, a refugee from Sudan or your typical run of the mill, ordinary, imperfect human being...consider yourself on the list too.


CHECK IT OUT!!!