The Tao Of I Heart Huckabees

For a film that's ostensibly about philosophy, I Heart Huckabees is a pretty fluffy romp.

While the lack of depth doesn't necessarily make the film a failure, it does prevent it from being the work of hipster genius that writer/director David O. Russell so clearly thinks it is.

About to be thrown out of his own Open Spaces Coalition and obsessed with the possible meaning of a coincidence in his life, poet/environmentalist Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) enlists the help of a pair of "Existential Detectives" (Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman).

The detectives immediately begin monitoring every detail of Albert's life, including his bitter rivalry Brad (Jude Law)— a charming executive from the Wal-Mart-esque Huckabees who's trying to take over the Coalition for PR purposes. Soon, Brad enlists the detectives' services as well and before you know it, all hell has broken loose. Soon Brad's model girlfriend (Naomi Watts), a firefighter with petroleum issues (Mark Wahlberg) and a nihilist philosopher (Isabelle Huppert) are thrown into the mix and existential crises start running amuck, much like hormones in American Pie.

Presented with funky imagery, absurd humour and snappy dialogue, it's all very fun. The acting is almost uniformly charming, the direction is stylish and the dialogue ranges from serviceable to funny. There's really nothing wrong with the film, other than the fact that it's not much more substantial than the aforementioned teen sex comedy.

Huckabees throws around some philosophical ideas, but it never actually does anything with them. It name drops concepts in a way that's more suited to the diary of a smartypants teenager than a well respected and critically adored filmmaker. And while taking shots at the Wal-Marts of the world never gets old, there's nothing fresh about it, either.

In the end, I Heart Huckabees is to philosophy what Schoolhouse Rock's song about bills on Capitol Hill was to American politics. It's a fun and catchy way to introduce the kids to some concepts, but it's not exactly high art.