I Heart Huckabees (2004)

A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.

Director:

David O. Russell

Writers:

David O. Russell, Jeff Baena

Stars:

Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Schwartzman	...	Albert Markovski
Isabelle Huppert	...	Caterine Vauban
Dustin Hoffman	...	Bernard
Lily Tomlin	...	Vivian
Jude Law	...	Brad Stand
Mark Wahlberg	...	Tommy Corn
Naomi Watts	...	Dawn Campbell
Angela Grillo	...	Angela Franco
Ger Duany	...	Mr. Stephen Nimieri
Darlene Hunt	...	Darlene
Kevin Dunn	...	Marty
Benny Hernandez	...	Davy
Richard Appel	...	Josh
Benjamin Nurick	...	Harrison
Jake Muxworthy	...	Tim

Storyline

Determined to solve the coincidence of seeing the same conspicuous stranger three times in a day, Albert hires a pair of existentialist detectives, who insist on spying on his everyday life while sharing their views on life and the nature of the universe.

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Plot Keywords:

coincidence | water skiing | model | meditation | fantasy sequence | 

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Taglines:

An existential comedy

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and a sex scene

Details

Official Sites:

Fox [Spain] Fox Searchlight [United States]

Country:

USA UK Germany

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

22 October 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

I Love Huckabee's

Filming Locations:

777 S. Figueroa Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$22,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£155,592 (UK) (26 November 2004)

Gross:

$12,784,713 (USA) (18 February 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Qwerty Films, Kanzeon

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin's first movie together, although the two of them were the original choices for Popeye and Olive Oyl in the Robert Altman film Popeye.

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Goofs

After Caterine takes a Polaroid picture of Brad she holds the camera with her right hand. The next shot of her she has her arms crossed, and the shot after that she is holding the camera again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Albert Markovski: [Blurry shot of tree]
[Albert's thoughts are voiced aloud to us, but not the audience on camera]
Albert Markovski: Mother-fucking, cocksucker, mother-fucking, shit-fucker, what am I doing?
[Albert walks out from behind tree, towards camera. As he gets closer to the camera the scene comes into focus]
Albert Markovski: What am I doing? I don't know what I'm doing. I'm doing the best that I can. I know that's all I can ask of myself. Is that good enough? Is my work doing any good? Is anybody paying attention? Is it ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

"How am I not myself?"

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Connections

Referenced in In the Loop (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Man! I Feel Like a Woman!"
Written by Shania Twain and Robert John Lange
Performed by Shania Twain
Courtesy of Mercury Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Dear God, my head hurts...

This film was amazing. I'm still not sure if I've completely figured it out, but I thoroughly enjoy the attempt. The entire trip was something fully unexpected from the barrage of F-bombs that makes up the first five minutes to the alluded to (but nonetheless unexpected) cameo of Shania Twain. It's near impossible to explain what the film is actually about in this space, so you'll have to settle for this: The always hilarious Lily Tomlin and the wonderful Dustin Hoffman play a couple of "existential detectives" hired by Jason Schwartzman (in perhaps his best role) to investigate a series of "coincidences" involved a very tall African man. Schwartzman is the head of an environmentalist group trying to make a deal with the Huckabees department store to save a marsh (Jude Law plays the Huckabees exec and Naomi Watts his wife--a Huckabees commercial model). Mark Wahlberg shows one of his best performances thus far as a fireman who has also hired the "existential duo" for help with the Big Questions. Jon Brion provides yet another truly original score (not as eccentric and beautiful as Eternal Sunshine, but definitely more involved than Punch Drunk Love). In short, this film is a masterpiece for everyone involved.