Short and Sweet Movie Reviews
Quick, concise, sometimes entertaining critiques for the short-attention-span mind.

Sunday, October 10, 2004  

I (heart) Huckabees (IMDB) (Netflix)
During the production of Three Kings, George Clooney punched out director David O. Russell, ostensibly for mis-treating the extras. Now that I've seen "Huckabees", I'm not sure Clooney needed that excuse—this guy is annoying in the extreme. On the other hand, Three Kings was a pretty good movie.

Here, Jason Schwartzman hires two "existential detectives" in the form of Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman to understand a series of coincidences. He's also befriended—then betrayed—by Jude Law, an ambitious executive with Huckabees, a department store whose ad campaigns feature an under-dressed Naomi Watts.

It's a manic, screwball-comedy-on-nitrous mess with redeeming qualities. There's enough fast-paced conflict-laden dialogue for three movies, and I think I pulled an ear muscle trying to keep up. There's a larger message inside this New Age ratatouille, but I was too exhausted to retain it.


current favorites

Collateral
Sideways
Ray
Team America: World Police
Manchurian Candidate
I (heart) Huckabees
Fahrenheit 9/11
I, Robot
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Don Chartier is not a professional movie critic, and proves it with every review.

Expect to see about two posts a week, usually on the weekends, of an idiosyncratic mix of blockbusters, indies and foreign films.

Contact him or subscribe to the free emailed version of these reviews at chartier AT enteract DOT com.