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'Huckabees' Ruminates on Philosophy As Characters Wrangle With Faith Crisis

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 March 2005, 03:00 CST

I Heart Huckabees is a movie about missing the connections we all make.

I think.

It might be a movie about missing connections and making sense of those misses.

Maybe.

This is a film that makes sense on some existential level and has a message worthy of delivery, but what makes it work, where it succeeds beyond any great truth or unlocked mystery, is the sense of unswayed confidence, the intellectual and comic bravado with which it barrels through several hundred years of Western philosophy.

On it's surface, I Heart Huckabees is a dense stew of philosophical musings that willfully confound and confuse the viewer. A grab bag of theories and buzz words, the plot - using the term loosely - revolves around an industrialist, an environmentalist and an ever-expanding spiral of characters, all of whom seem to be in the throes of some sort of grand crisis of faith.

But this movie operates, and succeeds, on a simpler level. Yes, issues of faith, truth and the eternal search for truth play an important part in Huckabees, but as something to be exploited, not explored.

At its core, I Heart Huckabees is a sweeping indictment of man's tendency to read far too much into everyday events and, in the process, ignore the sweet simple truths all around us.

Sure, there might be a molecular unity found in every person and object, but is that more important than nurturing human connection? I suppose it is possible that coincidence is more than a chaotic collision in time and space, but does seeing the same person more than twice in a single day mean more than finding something in the world you love to do?

In the way only the most successful of satires can, I Heart Huckabees is both painful and pure. It works because, although the audience can understand it's a joke, the film always approaches its subject matter with stone-faced seriousness. There are no subtle winks, no metaphorical jabs.

The cast skillfully weaves through an absurd course of events and epiphanies as though it were the most natural thing in the world; of particular note, Mark Wahlberg as a betrayed firefighter. This is the sort of total role inhabitation he promised audiences in Boogie Nights but is only now getting around to accomplishing.

I Heart Huckabees will always be a film that polarizes audiences. There are some who will find its philosophical meanderings too dense and distracting. There are others who will find the stylized nature of the film too cold, but for those willing to make the investment, the rewards are sweet.

Just don't expect total enlightenment.

Reach Steven Uhles at (706) 823-3626

or steven.uhles@augustachronicle.com.

Source: Augusta Chronicle, The

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