Cady's Take:

Albert (Jason Schwartzman) is an environmental activist who wants to save the natural world from the evil corporate world. But in the meantime a series of coincidences has him questioning his existence - enter Bernard and Vivian Jaffe. The Jaffe's (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) are a pair of existentialist detectives and they are here to show him the meaning and meaninglessness of life.

They are soon following Albert to work, peering through his windows, digging through his trash, and introducing him to another lost soul, Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), a very disturbed firefighter who basically becomes Albert's alter ego and protector. Mark Wahlberg is stellar here and this may very well be his best performance ever.

Along the way we meet Brad Stand (Jude Law), a handsome, ambitious, corporate leader in the giant department store Huckabees, which wants to use land that Albert is trying to save, and his beautiful model girlfriend Dawn Campbell (Naomi Watts). You would have to see the movie to understand the importance of all of its characters!

"I Heart Huckabees" manages to ask a lot of important questions. The humor is quirky and blunt while remaining intelligent. It must be said that this probably isn't a movie for everyone, as its dialogue might go over some viewer's heads. But, in my opinion it is impossible to hate a movie involving Shania Twain and tuna fish sandwiches!

"I Heart Huckabees" is what I would call "existentialism for beginners". It very nicely presents two possibilities: that we are all interconnected and that our individual consciousness is an illusion separating us from understanding the totality of the universe, or that nothing is connected, everything is random, and that nothing has meaning. There are plenty of references to "Waiting for Godot", including a rock next to a tree that the environmentalist main-character Albert (Jason Schwartzman) is determined to save. Albert hires "Existential Detectives" Bernard and Vivian (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) who subscribe to the first theory, while Tommy (Mark Wahlberg) sticks with Caterine (Isabelle Huppert), a proponent of the "nothing matters and then we die" theory.

This movie works sometimes, and other times it does not. Hoffman and Tomlin are hilarious as existential detectives, who follow Albert around, peering at him through windows and generally watching every move he makes. I like the stylized, '50s style detective slant they take - like film noir on acid or something. As far as the existential dilemma, well, it is presented clearly and simply and it is fun to think about but it's no substitution for reading a little Beckett or Sartre. In addition, I think the Mark Wahlberg character, Tommy, could have been developed a little more - I was intrigued, but he seemed like an one-man Greek chorus and didn't really blend in with the rest of the story.

Give it a shot - at the very least it is light hearted entertainment that might even make you think a little, too!