It’s rare that a film is both stupidly funny and funnily intelligent, where existential crisis is explored through hitting people in the face with a spacehopper. I Heart Huckabees pulls it off with style.
First, the cast: superb, not a single poor casting decision. Jude Law is the slightly smarmy marketing man that becomes the object of Jason Schwartzman’s hatred. Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin also work well together as the quirky and disturbing existential detectives who investigate Schwartzman’s crisis. The best performance, however, is by Mark Wahlberg. He is spot on with timing, expression, everything. I never liked him before this, but he has gone up hugely in my estimation.
The first hour of the film rips past, exploring the characters, and settles the remainder of the film into a debate on whether everything is interconnected (leading to a harmonious universe) or discrete (leading to a random and cruel universe). Being a slightly surreal comedy (reminding me of the superb Being John Malkovich), it does it in ways that you’ll never see coming. Right up to the end, the film charms; the closing lines are both smirk-worthy and poignant.
One of the best films of the year.