Transcending Philosophy; David O. Russell's Latest Romps Through Existentialism, Buddhism, Nihilism and Everything in Between.

Summary

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Trouble arises in the form of Ayn Rand-styled nihilist guru Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert), who's working a sinister variation on [Bernard Jaffe]'s upbeat teachings that emphasizes the emptiness of our existence. She heads out after [Albert Markovski] and [Tommy] like she's recruiting for the dark side of the force (a parallel that doesn't go unnoticed by [David O. Russell] and co-writer Jeff Baena's supremely savvy screenplay), and so begins the darnedest screwball battle of being vs. nothingness you've ever seen.

Here's a film so slaphappy and crazed that it's frankly hard to pull everything together in a single viewing. (I've seen it three times.) Russell can't keep all his plates spinning in the air the entire time--in fact, they kind of come crashing down in a clunky third act--but his almost revolutionary sincerity and optimism shine through the cacophonous proceedings.

So Huckabees presents a uniquely democratic, lovingly interconnected universe in which [Jason Schwartzman]'s pompous Ivy Leaguer, Law's oily sales weasel, [Mark Wahlberg]'s blue-collar roughhouser and [Naomi Watts]' dimwitted spokesmodel all wind up at the end of their ropes, asking the same big questions, side-by-side.

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Transcending Philosophy; David O. Russell's Latest Romps Through Existentialism, Buddhism, Nihilism and Everything in Between.

A manic whirling dervish that sends a thousand philosophical and political ideas pingponging across the CinemaScope frame at breakneck speed, David O. Russell's curiously titled I Heart Huckabees is a deliriously unhinged contraption that spends most of ...

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