It’s difficult to watch I (Heart) Huckabees without thinking about director David O. Russell’s tirade against actor Lily Tomlin that was posted to Youtube. Unless you haven’t seen that clip, in which case you might wonder why all these different actors brought something a little different to a film that tries so hard to be a little different. But everything seems to cancel everything else out so all you’re left with is nothing, which is exactly the point the film is trying to make.
While Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin have fun with their roles as existential detectives, Jason Schwartzman falls into his role as a poet/environmental activist who enlists the help of the detectives to solve a strange coincidence in his life. Jude Law doesn’t quite shed enough of his Englishman to make a convincing faux-Walmart executive, and Mark Walberg absolutely nails a post-9/11 fireman who rails against the evils of petroleum above all else. The people who are screaming at health care town halls must have taken lessons from his character, only they are replacing the evils of petroleum with death panels and socialism.
Continue reading >
and Wajda’s 
both open with a newsreel-type sequence, Wajda’s a historical bent and Ray’s an educational one. Both films take a critical look at the practices and ways of their country and countrymen, in addition to the negative influences of outside parties.