Jason Schwartzman stars as Albert Markovski, an isolated conservationist, activist and poet, who hires husband-and-wife team of existential detectives Bernard and Vivian (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to get him back on the rails, in director David O Russell’s clever and imaginative if not especially laugh-out-loud funny 2004 wacky US indie black comedy film I Heart Huckabees.
Albert is simply determined to solve the coincidence of seeing the same conspicuous stranger three times in a day. The detectives agree to study his case by spying on his everyday activities and getting into his psyche, while sharing their views on life and the nature of the universe. Trying to help Albert seek answers to his profound questions, Bernard and Vivian join Albert with a disillusioned firefighter named Tommy Corn (Mark Wahlberg), who seeks answers to the same questions on life.
The busy playing from the brilliant star cast, David O Russell and Jeff Baena’s witty screenplay and the heady air of offbeat originality are very considerable assets. Jude Law, Naomi Watts and Isabelle Huppert also star, with Huppert playing an ‘existential expert’ called Caterine Vauban.
The film debuts of Jonah Hill in a minor role as Bret Hooten and Ger Duany as Stephen Nimieri.
Jon Brion writes the score and seven original songs.
It was reported that Jude Law dropped out of the film to star in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (2006), but after an alleged incident between Russell and Nolan at a Hollywood party, Nolan agreed to drop Law from his film.
In March 2007, two videos of on-set arguments between Russell and Tomlin were leaked on YouTube. But Tomlin responded: ‘I love David. There was a lot of pressure in making the movie.’
The film grossed $20,072,172 worldwide on a budget of $20 million, which means it failed at the box office.
The cast are Dustin Hoffman as Bernard Jaffe, Isabelle Huppert as Caterine Vauban, Jude Law as Brad Stand, Jason Schwartzman as Albert Markovski, Lily Tomlin as Vivian Jaffe, Mark Wahlberg as Tommy Corn, Naomi Watts as Dawn Campbell, Ger Duany as Stephen Nimieri, Isla Fisher as Heather, Sydney Zarp as Cricket Hooten, Jonah Hill as Bret Hooten, Richard Jenkins as Mr. Hooten, Darlene Hunt as Darlene, Kevin Dunn as Marty, Benny Hernandez as Davy, Richard Appel as Josh, Benjamin Nurick as Harrison, Jake Muxworthy as Tim, Tippi Hedren as Mary Jane Hutchinson, Altagracia Guzman as Mrs. Echevarria, Saïd Taghmaoui as Translator, Bob Gunton as Mr. Silver, Talia Shire as Mrs. Silver, Jean Smart as Mrs. Hooten, Shania Twain as Herself, and Kamala Lopez as Molly Corn.
Jeff Baena wrote and directed the zombie comedy Life After Beth in 2014, his directorial debut, starring Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan and Molly Shannon.
David O Russell is known for his first feature Spanking the Monkey (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Three Kings (1999), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013). Russell directed Accidental Love in 2015, received his seventh Golden Globe nomination for the semi-biographical comedy-drama Joy (2015) and directed the comedy mystery thriller Amsterdam (2022).
Back in 1994 Russell intended to make his debut film ‘about a guy who sits in the back of a Chinese restaurant with microphones on every table to surreptitiously listen to everybody’s conversations, then write perversely personal fortunes for each of the people’. But he couldn’t make the script work until years later when he had a dream in which ‘this female detective was following me for spiritual and metaphysical reasons’.
Jeff Baena was in a relationship with actress Aubrey Plaza since 2011 and they married in a small ceremony in their backyard on their tenth anniversary.
On January 3, 2025, Baena’s body was discovered at his home in Los Angeles by his assistant. He committed suicide by hanging, aged 47.
He wrote and directed Life After Beth (2014), Joshy (2016), The Little Hours (2017), Horse Girl (2020) and Spin Me Round (2022) and co-wrote I Heart Huckabees (2004).
© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1,661
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