The reviews so far for the philosophical I Heart Huckabees seem to concede that there are some riveting things happening, with an undeniably great cast, but that there is just too much information being thrown at the audience, that it isn't fluid enough.
When I saw the film, I had the same feeling I did when I saw The Royal Tennenbaums - basically that I was seeing this gorgeous, intelligent, inventive but offbeat movie that no one in the audience got. Everybody seemed disconcerted, disengaged. It was "weird." American audiences aren't used to being challenged much, and certainly not in mainstream movie theaters.
I'm one of those people who is affected greatly by the energy of those around me. I sensed how offputting Huckabees was to the audience, especially during the more surreal sequences. There was a lot of imagery depicting how everything in the universe is connected, and how each character perceived that. Unusual, indeed. It was hard for me to watch the movie just for myself; I found myself watching it through other audience members' lenses.
I do hope that everyone in the theater opened their minds a little, allowed themselves to free associate with the images on the screen, and decide what those truly smart and original impressions meant to them. I'm sure some of them did enjoy the film and get something out of it. But as they all filed out at the end, abnormally silent, with those "What the hell was that" looks on their faces, I really just hoped that every single one, at some point on their journey across the parking lot, did what the movie asked us all to do, which was to ask ourselves,
How am I not myself?
How am I not myself?
How am I not myself?
How am I not myself?
