Existential ‘Huckabees’ heavy, strange

In the wake of 9/11, will human beings choose the chaos of hate or the order of compassion?

“I Heart Huckabees” chews on that very big mouthful for two hours of strangeness. It’s so personal that writer-director David O. Russell is probably the only person who understands what he’s after. But despite everything, I enjoyed it.

A lot of my enjoyment has to do with seeing Lily Tomlin in a role worthy of her supple intelli-

gence. Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman play “existential detectives” hired by Jason Schwartzman (“Rushmore”) to get to the bottom of his angst. One of the movie’s most consistent sources of humor is their laughably unsecret sur-

veillance (Hoffman tries to hide behind a sapling). Then there’s the self-righteous Tomlin, clad in heels and the starched, poufy dresses of a ‘50s cocktail party hostess, reacting in horror at the lack of self-awareness she encounters everywhere.

Russell pairs Tomlin and Hoffman’s antics with philosophizing that falls flat and would fall even flatter if the actors didn’t race through it. Things get less interesting when Isabelle Huppert pops up as a rival who believes we are all isolated in our pain, whereas Tomlin and Hoffman seek the connections between people that give life meaning.

“Huckabees” also includes characters played by Jude Law, Naomi Watts and Mark Wahlberg, as a firefighter haunted by 9/11 and by a haircut that appears to have been administered with a weed whacker. Each of them cannot accept the fact that sadness is a natural part of a fully lived life.

Yeah, that’s heady stuff for a comedy, and yeah, it doesn’t always work. But the questions Russell asks are exactly right for this era. And, although he is cynical about specific people, he is enormously hopeful about the potential for humanity.