*** Official I HEART HUCKABEE'S DiscussionThread (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

It had a nice, micheivious quality about it, but it the end felt like the waste of my time. It's not that I didn't get it, or that it was poorly constructed - indeed it was tied up in a neat little bow at the end, it just felt like my two hours could have been better spent doing... well, just about anything.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Man, Quentin and I usually agree more but I just had a totally different reaction to this film.

I loved every minute of it. I loved the personal journey of the 4 main characters as they tried to sort out there life crises.

As I said to Brook in the 2004 film thread I felt that the philosophical advisors were merely metaphorical creations that didn't really exist, more books on the subject that whisper their ideas in your ear as you face issues. The same with the Christian family who seemed clearly to exist only as a representation of a philosophical ideal.

The sex scene is not really sex, just Schwartzman leaving his buddy high and dry for some relationship. The whole thing is just the journey of people as they face various issues, with the inside turned out. Instead of seeing their actions caused by some unseen faze they are in, here the film is about the various fazes themselves and what goes on in people's minds to create these stages.

The battle to find comfort in life with an optimistic view versus finding strength with a pessimisstic nothing-matters view is played out in dialog and scenes instead of a character simply being happier or more bitter on a given day.


Brook alos mentioned the Spotless Mind vibe in the 2004 thread, but I didn't get that. Instead I felt the film's humor and tone were very strongly in the Wes Anderson vien.

Wahlberg continues to impress me as an actor. I'm not sure about his range or strength away from great actor's directors, but given the right circumstances he can really shine. He does steal many of the scenes in this film, and not just with his humor.

In fact I thought all the acting was great. To me the film was a big ball of fun and one I either hope or suspect (or both) will grow into favor as people acclimate to it more. It just seems like a film that won't take for most people the first time through.

Not "get" in the sense of understand, but just a film with enough quirks to make it tough to latch onto right away for a lot of people. Then again it might be just enough quirks that only I can latch onto it, period.

Well, my wife really liked it as well so at least I won't be totally alone. (and Reggie too)

 

[Quentin]

I agree with this statement. I also think this is the core of the film. It IS the film...which, for me, is a problem. I tend to prefer narrative over filmic presentation of philosophical debates.

Thinking of all the peripheral characters as symbolic is interesting. I like it, it's fun!

I also agree that this is FAR closer to a Wes Anderson film than ESothSM (still my fave film of the year).

I also agree Wahlberg was perfect. The scene of him watering the grass, totally dejected, still cracks me up.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Wow, a difference of opinion in which 2 people actually come to understand the difference of opinion, I like it. There should be more of that around here.

Beats the hell out of "Hoffman is a stupid stupid and I hated him".

Yeah, Wahlberg definitely got the humor of his scenes and nailed them. Very similar to how he brought out the humor in Three Kings for his character, like when he calls his wife and says something like "I can't talk very long, its kinda a bad time right now". Funny, yet serious and dark too.

Pretty likely that we will be seeing him in plenty of future Russell films.

 

[SarahG]

How's the soundtrack for this?