I ♥ Huckabees (2004)

So, it's a little forced. It's still incredibly fun. The only other film that I've seen and can think of that deals so overtly with philosophy is Waking Life - which I'll review someday, if I can stay awake through it againg.

Huckabees is a philosophy lesson in the form of a comedy. It's very offbeat, think The Royal Tenenbaums. The actors are quite high profile: Dustin Hoffman, Jude Law, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts, and Jason Schwartzman. They have a lot of fun pushing existentialism and nihilism out of the textbook and into consequential behaviour. This can be a little tiresome if you're not into philosophy as many of the lines refer heavily on thought and perspective.

But there's a lot of fun for those who just want to relax and not think. The piece is an investigation spurred on by a coincidence. The investigators are out to teach their client that he needs to realize how connected he is to everything and to just flow with things. The existential detectives and their clients collides with Christians, a nihilist, and a WalMart-esque corporation called Huckabees and the yuppy up-and-coming characters at head office.

I rate this one high because it laughs at itself and yet treats the subject matter with great respect. The conclusion may be a little flippant, but it's out to cause a discussion, not give you the answer. I like the fact that it makes an effort to show that philosophy is an extremely powerful system. I believe that without philosphy, we wouldn't have many of the advances in society that we enjoy - like clean water and security. I also believe that the consequences of ignoring philosophy are such things as the bad things in our education system and globalization.

If anything this movie will encourage you to ask yourself how you connect with others - or how you don't connect.

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