So last weekend I saw I Heart Huckabees (Rated R, 106 minutes) staring an ensemble cast that includes Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, and (Marky) Mark Wahlberg and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Schwartzman has been one of my favorite actors since his debut in Rushmore a movie by one of my favorite writer/directors Wes Anderson, and he does Writer/Director David O. Russell (Three Kings) well as Albert Markovski, a young environmental activist hoping to save some marshlands from untimely demise. He experiences three coincidences which he can find no explanation for and seeks out the assistance of existential detectives Bernard and Vivian (Hoffman and Tomlin) who have two entirely different approaches in how they do their job. As the detectives shadow Albert to see how he spends his day we are introduced to Brad (Law) then anti-Albert that works as an up and coming executive for Huckabees (think Target) a store that sells everything, wants to seem as if they are trying to improve their environmental image with the help of Albert by underwriting his Open Space Coalition. Brad uses his charming smile and smooth talking to convince everyone that Albert’s poems are no match for a party, when it comes to saving the marsh. Later we meet Tommy (Whalberg) who is Albert’s anchor and becomes his counterpart throughout the movie as they deal with Brad. One of my favorite characters was Bernard a quirky out there doctor like character who teaches Albert about how everything in the world is interconnected like a white bed sheet, a tree, the marsh, Albert, all part of same thing. Him and long with his wife Vivian, believe that everything is connected and have made it their professional to explain what it all means. Whereas later in the movie we discover Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert) who contradicts everything they believe to be true with her insistence of a somewhat nihilistic approach that nothing is connected. She takes Albert and Tommy under her wing after they are put off by the detectives’ insistence that Brad (who also has hired the detectives) isn’t undermining Albert. This movie is all over the place and I’m not even sure if I give it justice when I try to do a simple plot description. Most the parts are well acted and Dawn (Naomi Watts) is a pleasure to see throughout the movie as the voice of Huckabees. It was well worth the price of admission. $7 out of $9.
Monthly Archives: October 2004
In the move Team America: World Police (Rated R, 98 minutes), the creators of South Park (Matt Stone and Trey Parker) truly attempt to offend as many people as they possibly can in a just over one and a half hours. From the opening scene where the members of Team America (a non government antiterrorist group) virtually destroy Paris with one feel swoop while trying to protect the people of France from a immediate threat of terrorists planning to use a WMD (Weapon of Mass Destruction for those that have been living under a rock for the past couple years). They are able to not only to kill the terrorists but Team America is also able to take out the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. While celebrating they lose one of their own members to a terrorist that wasn't really dead. Of course something I haven't mentioned yet is that there are no real actors in this movie it was done with marionettes (think The Thunderbirds). After loss of their team member the leader Spottswoode (Darren Norris) sets out to find a new member for the team, he finds that member in Gary (voice by Trey Parker) who is an actor performing on broad but also is knowledgeable in languages. The movie continues with the members of Team America visiting locales such as Cairo, Egypt where they destroy a pyramid and some other monuments. This movie never attempts to be serious. In fact Stone and Parker go out of their way to make sure the viewers realize that they are watching puppets, sometimes with the movements of the characters and other times just with the ways they film scenes. Parts of the movie basically look as though they went ahead and just did one take with a child holding the camera and called it a wrap. No one was safe from being made fun of in this movie, those that support the war in Iraq, those that don't support the war in Iraq, Michael Moore, Hollywood actors (such as Alec Baldwin, Sean Penn, Matt Damon, etc.), North Korea's President Kim Jong II, themselves, and most important those watching the movie in the theater. Many scenes are over the top, but then what do you expect with the use of puppets! Along with the violent scenes of puppets blowing things up and their heads being blown off, the movie includes a sex scene which was originally 2 minutes long but was cut to 50 seconds after the MPAA had initially rated the move NC-17, this change then garnered the movie a R rating. This R rating did not deter people from watching the movie this weekend with it already being named the highest gross film for the weekend. I thought the movie was funny, at times entertaining, at other times offending, but not really offending to myself personally. It more so pokes fun at those people that choose to be more political then the normal person on the street. I laughed throughout the movie, while I also shook my head as the movie become more and more predictably offending. I found myself thinking what are they going to do next and who are they going to direct it towards. Granted this movie was pretty corny, but it kept up the laughs with it's over the top antics. If you decide to see it, leave your political correctness at the door. I give it a 6 out of my 9 dollar rating scale ($9.00 because that's the typical price of a movie here).