I ♥ Huckabees (2004)

Director: David O. Russell
Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Isabelle Huppert, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts

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My suggestion for approaching I Heart Huckabees is to watch the trailer five times in a row online and save yourself time and money. There are funny parts in the film, but they're all in the trailer. The trailer is unmarred by a too busy narrative. For a film about how everything in the universe is connected, I had a hell of a time figuring out how to connect everything in the narrative. Maybe I'm not so bright. Maybe the film requires a second (or third or fourth) viewing. I didn't quite get the sense of fulfillment that the main characters did. There's no logical build-up of events in the film. Just as it occurs in real life, events happen in sequential order, and there is, of course, cause and effect. What we don't get is a sense that the events in the film have a purpose as far as a narrative arc is concerned. Things happen, then the film ends. Everyone learns a valuable lesson by the end, but I'll be damned if I know what that lesson was. Here is a film whose concept is much better than its execution. Take my advice: watch the trailer a few times and be satisfied. You save yourself money and you still get to laugh at Hoffman's haircut.

October 9
Pacific Theaters, afternoon

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