I Heart Huckabees

I'm a big fan of "quirky" movies, but this one didn't tickle my funnybone. Nor did it make me pause and think.

By all rights it should have, given the wonderful cast. I mean, Isabelle Huppert and Tippi Hedren in the same film -- what could be more sublime?

Still, the faux profundity, apparently intended as satire of something, seems labored and sophomoric. The philosophical musings are just above the level of a fortune cookie. Perhaps the philosophy is intended to satirize the drunken or stoned musing of college freshmen engaged in an all night bull session. If so, the target is not worth skewering.

Hoffman (Little Big Man) and Tomlin arefun to watch, despite the pretentious silliness. I'd just seen Hoffman in THE SPHERE the night before on cable and, mirabile dictu, I actually found it more engaging.

Jude Law (Sky Captain)  is wasted. He's usually good at light comedy as well as drama, but here he has a difficult time projecting the appropriate level of denseness and duplicity. I'm inclined to think it's the director's fault, not his. Or maybe he just doesn't have time to rehearse, given his busy schedule.

Bottom line: carrying off a combination of parody, satire, slapstick, and metaphysical musings is apparently something that Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) can handle, but not this director in this movie.