Who payed the critics

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I Heart Huckabees would be better off if it - were more funny and less depressed - were more considerate and less self-centered - paced itself better and loitered less - were more existentially heartfelt and less fussy and dramatic - had more Jessica Lange bathing suit stills - were lighter and less heavy - had more visual aid and less talky talky - were more inspirational and not so stuck in its own head - had more Isabelle Huppert character and less Dustin Hoffman Lily Tomlin characters - were more like it is when Mark Wahlberg and Jude Law are onscreen and everybody's talking over each other being existential-like - were more amusing and less grief-stricken - were fuller of life and less empty feeling - were more appreciative and less critical and so would I. I love I Heart Huckabees. It's an awesome movie and it's pretty hilarious and really good. David O. Russell's best work.(The meaning of life definitely has something to do with the feeling Shania gives blonde-haired Jude when he's telling people his Shania tuna fish story, or the feeling Naomi gives me when I see her posing bent over in her little baby blue shorts and sky blue top shooting her Huckabees commercial. Oh thank you sweet creator. Or something like that.)

I decided three quarters of the way through this movie that I was going to review it. I also decided that I wasn't gong to read anyone else's reviews before I did. Half way through and I was already mentally punishing myself for not having a guaranteed definition of what was going on. Being a Sociology graduate I felt like I was letting myself down by not having a concrete definition. I decided to write the review when it clicked; this movie is entirely based on the confusion I felt, and the malleable concept of the existential thought process that fueled it. If you are to consider such a thing as existentialism, then you must first accept that your consideration will be either utterly pointless, or infinitely meaningful given the universal pointlessness of the world that it exists within. Which really brings you to the crux of the matter...or not. Two sides of the same coin land edgewise up and gently ridicule the very concept of flipping it in the first place, and the idea that there can be two conflicting arguments within such an ideology becomes absurd. We are all connected so everything matters, or we are all disconnected so nothing does, which means that if nothing matters, then everything does, and if everything matters, then nothing does. As I walked around my house after watching it, I found myself in a positive state of mind, and I felt a new fondness for my surroundings that had been absent for a few months. I have no conscious idea why this was the case, but if a movie can have that effect on you, then something's gone right.

I Heart Huckabees is a philosophical comedy film that stars an ensemble cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Isabelle Huppert, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts.Director and screenwriter David O. Russell returns to the more idiosyncratic territory of his earlier work with this intelligent and offbeat film.Bernard and Vivian Jaffe are a married couple who run an existential detective agency where they sift through the lives of their clients in order to discover the source of their angst. The Jaffes' latest client is Albert Markovski, an environmental activist who has a very large rock and a great deal on his mind; their study of Albert's problems lead Bernard and Vivian to Brad Stand, a public relations executive with a chain of successful variety stores, Huckabees. While publicly allying himself with Albert's environmental initiatives, behind the scenes Brad is running roughshod over responsible land management with little care for the consequences. When Brad learns he's being watched by the Jaffes, he hopes to co-opt them by hiring them himself; however, the plan has unexpected consequences when their questioning leads Brad's girlfriend, well-scrubbed model Dawn, into reassessing her life and relationships. Meanwhile, Albert finds himself joining forces with Tommy,a firefighter and fellow environmentalist who has been having second thoughts about Bernard and Vivian's ideas and methods after a long-term investigation and has since fallen under the spell of nihilist poet and philosopher Caterine Vauban.Russell directs an excellent cast in a thought provoking existential comedy that is very funny and very well acted.The actors soldier away like the professionals they are, saying the words as if they mean something. Only Wahlberg is canny enough to play his role completely straight, as if he has no idea the movie might be funny. The others all seem trying to get in on the joke, which is a neat trick.Also,individual moments and lines and events in the film are funny in and of themselves. Viewers may be mystified but will occasionally be amused. Obviously,it took boundless optimism and energy for Russell to make the film.Check it out for yourself and enjoy the ride.

I can't imagine anyone finding this movie anything less than perfect all the way from the word "cocksucker" being repeated on and on to the business card saying "Cruelty, manipulation, meaninglessness". It was the most sublime combination of deep thought and ridiculous tall African guys.I have searched for a movie like this for the past two years and now I wish I could get up two hours earlier every day to see it again and again.I don't know if it's really that good or if it's just that I saw it ten minutes ago but I definitely recommend it to anyone who's finding it hard to get out of bed and even harder not to.