I Heart Huckabees

Ironically, "I Heart Huckabees" is both brilliant and befuddling — sometimes at the same time.

Which seems appropriate, considering how contradictory this "existential comedy" can be. While its concepts are undeniably clever, some of the humor is pretty lowbrow, and some of it is downright silly.

Obviously, a film that's so confounding and difficult to categorize is likely to be an acquired taste (no wonder early reviews have been so mixed). In many ways, it may remind some of the similarly ambitious and mind-bending dark comedies written by Charlie Kaufman, or P.T. Anderson's "Magnolia" (the musical score by Jon Brion is very similar).

The film's title is also a bit ironic, since its main character, Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman), certainly doesn't seem to share the sentiment. He's the head of an environmental protest group that is losing control . . . in more ways than one.

Albert fears that a new corporate sponsor, the Huckabees store chain, is corrupting the protesters — as is the company's charismatic young head, Brad Stand (Jude Law). Albert is also obsessed with a seemingly meaningless series of coincidences he's experienced lately.

So he seeks the help of Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin), a husband-and-wife "existential-detective" team that promises to solve all of his problems . . . or at least help explain them. However, the investigations prove to be overly intrusive, which only makes Albert more confused.

He also finds a kindred spirit in Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), a firefighter who has turned away from the Jaffes' guidance with regard to philosophical quandaries, and who has moved on to their rival, Caterine Vauban (Isabelle Huppert).

As you can probably guess, there's a lot more going on than what's described here. And at times, co-screenwriter/director David O. Russell overreaches a bit with some of the metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. However, the deadpan nature of the film's humor is refreshing, and the cast seems to be having a blast.

The performances are uniformly solid, though, surprisingly, the standouts are Wahlberg, who's never been this funny, and Naomi Watts, who plays against type as Brad's girlfriend, a dim-witted Huckabees spokesmodel.

"I Heart Huckabees" is rated R for use of strong sexual profanity, comic violence (mostly fisticuffs and brawling), some frank sexual talk and use of sexual slang terms, a brief sex scene, and some brief female nudity (a sight gag). Running time: 105 minutes.

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E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com