If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

"The universe is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere."Having seen David O. Russell's last three films which amassed him several Oscar nominations, I wanted to go back to one of his earlier projects that I missed. I had heard mix reviews about I Heart Huckabees, but I went into it with high expectations considering his latest films blew me away. I was really disappointed with the film despite the talented cast because the premise didn't appeal to me and the comedy didn't work for me either. The film centers on philosophical elements such as existentialism and nihilism, but it is treated in such a way that it seemed as if they were making fun of these theories without actually being funny. It isn't as deep as it is trying to be and despite the style that David O. Russell brings to the film it never managed to engage me. It's as if Russell simply mixed all these philosophical ideas in a blender and the result was I Heart Huckabees. The cast made the film a bit more tolerable considering they all bring their unique charisma, but the story simply didn't work for me. It was an annoying and frustrating experience where some of the comedic moments felt forced and unauthentic. Despite trying to be unique and quirky it was a forgettable experience and by far my least favorite film from David O. Russell. The cast put a lot of energy into the film, but it seems to be directed all over the place and the result was a rather pointless and uneven movie. I can see why some people fell in love with this existential comedy, but it simply didn't appeal to me due to the absurd premise. It is no secret that I'm not a big fan of surreal films, but I have enjoyed some when they at least have some narrative coherence. It wasn't the case with I Heart Huckabees.The cast in this movie is extremely talented, and we have come to expect this coming from a Russell film because every actor in Hollywood is lining up to work with him. Jason Schwartzman is the sort of actor who is perfect for these quirky films. He is at his best working with Wes Anderson, and here he seems to be playing one of his characters. His chemistry with Jude Law and Mark Wahlberg was great. Perhaps the reason why I didn't hate this film was due to their performance because they elevated the material for me. Wahlberg had the funniest scenes and the only time I laughed in this film was with several of his anger outbursts. Naomi Watts and Lily Tomlin also delivered strong performances. Dustin Hoffman was a bit too quirky and his character was actually inspired by Russell's philosophy professor (Uma Thurman's father). I imagine he was highly exaggerated because his character was really out there. Isla Fisher and Jonah Hill have small cameos in this film and it was sort of a highlight for me to see them on screen. This was Hill's first feature film and no one would have imagined how successful he has become (two Oscar nominations for his recent work). As profound as the film tries to be I really don't feel like it has transcended and it should be ranked amongst Russell's weakest films over time.

First I'll say, so you can relate/hate my mind, I've turned a few movies into memory-wheel-building-blocks for this life...Amélie, Big Lebowski, Big Fish, Earthlings.But out of that list, I would still rather watch this movie. I've read some hate it because it's preaching to the choir, being strange on purpose, leaning on the fact it's fictional and amazingly enough, some even say it's not funny.Some films/music/writings/art grown on you. Some you liked at first and somehow IT STILL DID THIS. That is this film for me.It's my Velvet and Underground and Nico, and if you don't hear the comedy/tragedy in that album, I'm guessing you won't hear it here either.

It is amazing how much storytelling noise we have in our heads ,just close your eyes and see how many useless thoughts you have in a minute. And it's amazing that films which are about this activity of the mind, and how it obscures the world, and creates illusory images, Buddhist- inspired films from The Matrix and Cloud Atlas, to Cosmopolis, to now this, are always so bent to talk and talk and clutter us more.So I was recently impressed by Silver Linings Playbook; eager for more, I asked around and was pointed to this as more intelligent, more personal work of this guy. It probably is both. So, you have a protagonist in existential crisis who is told about infinity and the inter-connectedness of being, taught the retreat to the cocoon of self where images come to being. And you have the effort to fathom this come alive in layers as broken narrative that we watch.It's essentially the same character splintered in three (Schwartzman, Wahlberg, Jude Law) so that each one runs into some conundrum that comprises part of a broader view. But it all come back to a self that clings to things and can't let go; in his poems that have to be on pamphlets and who gets to lead, in corporate success, in having to save the environment, and so forth. We are all egotistic in this way, clinging to the things we send out, wanting to be important.You have despair and disbelief at the happy spirituality of 'safe places', and the flipside in French deconstructionism, in seductively dark Isabelle Huppert and muddy, animal sex. The childhood trauma. And the middle path that reconciles purity with stained life. All that is fine. Some notion of this or other will be at the heart of most good films. Not to take anything from Russell, he has crafted something that is attractive on the surface, witty if not intelligent. And I appreciate the earnestness of putting it all out there as a search for meaning in modern life. But if your film is to have any actual power, you have to forget all you know as mere thought when you make it, forget the idea and embody the insight. Because none of it is really embodied here, and it gets progressively worse as it goes on until the cloying finale, which I also found in Playbook. Russell in other words explains how it's done, but can't do it in the film so we end up with schematic lessons on self-awareness robbed of their real power.You will know it is schematic, if you look at what is visualized of the protagonist's consciousness inside that consciousness, where images bubble up in the first place, when story-layers have been peeled and films are usually at their most pure. In that level of internal mind you have what? The schematic cartoon with the tree and floating heads. Constructed cuteness.

This film made me laugh, I'll say that first. However, I can't say I was a huge fan of the movie as a whole. Individual scenes, like the dinner scene with the African boy, were funny to watch, but the movie felt like it was rambling at times. The existentialist speech was laid on too heavy, particularly at the beginning of the movie, which I found confusing. This may have been the intent, but it did not help the movie in my opinion. Schwartzman was really good in this movie and I found Mark Wahlberg surprising funny as well as the biking fire fighter. Performances were what drove this movie for me. I also enjoyed the bit parts for the then up and coming Jonah Hill and Isla Fisher. I'd say check this film out