I Heart Huckabees

Starring: Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman

Directed by: David O. Russell

RS: 3of 4 Stars

2004 Fox Searchlight Comedy

If you left David O. Russell's intellectual farce scratching your head, this two-disc, bonus-packed set is your way to enlightenment. Sort of. Russell, the searching, mischievous mind behind Spanking the Monkey, Flirting With Disaster and Three Kings, delivers a commentary that spells out the film's philosophical underpinnings -- you best know your Robert Thurman -- while still screwing with your head. Jason Schwartzman stars as Albert, an environmental poet who hires a married pair of existential detectives (Hoffman and Tomlin, both hilarious) to look into his soul and how it's being destroyed by Huckabees, the "everything store" with beautiful employees (Jude Law, Naomi Watts) who symbolize American corporate culture at its most insidious. Albert resists, as does Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), an angry post-9/11 firefighter who's so against Big Oil that he rides to fire scenes on a bike. Wahlberg's performance, one of the year's best, did not win an Oscar nomination. Neither did Jon Brion for his fine, fleet score, or anyone else associated with this mesmerizing mess of a movie. That should tell you it's worth your time, if not your (tm).