I Heart Huckabees

So I’ve been thinking about writing a review of I Heart Huckabees. I’m trendy, right? And I’m capable of making rational, free choices, right?

If I wrote it, I would probably have to think of some good references to The Guest-era Phantom Planet to talk about Jason Schwartzman’s role. Maybe “Nobody’s Fault” would be a good one. It preaches “It’s nobody’s fault now but my own,” which is as vaguely existential as the film. But that would just come off as a stretch. Schartzman was only like the drummer or something anyway; he hardly mattered.

I’d also probably try to make some connections to Camus. I read The Stranger in high school, so I’m pretty qualified for that. The main character’s name, “Albert,” is pretty obviously lifted from that work. And then there’s the rock that Albert saved from the wetlands: that’s so Sisyphean it’s not even worth trying to say it.

Then I would mention that the film might as well have been made by Wes Anderson. The intelligent themes of I Heart Huckabees are peppered with goofy coincidences and melodrama like in The Royal Tennenbaums and life.

Perhaps finally I would get all Hegelian and talk about the film’s portrayal of the dialectic as necessary for life. It illustrates the importance of going through different phases to develop emotionally (a dialectic of idealism, existentialism, and nihilism). Unfortunately, much like Hegel’s description of dialectics, the film has trouble illustrating the necessary conclusion of things. This phenomenon is what philosophers call “Hegelian Blueballs.” And it demonstrates how little things actually mean.

So if Hegel and I Heart Huckabees can’t reach conclusions, why should I think that I can? What’s it all for? Where’s the fucking blanket?

This is all for nothing.

Or not.