Existential movies are a rare occurrence in today’s world, what with billion dollar action movies and top grossing comedies. Hollywood has made the concept of asking very big questions, such as the meaning of life, as outcast as Socrates or Plato; such questions stay in the schools. This is quite a shame, because every once in a while when they actually do make an existential film, the audience is entertained and thinking. When I mean existential, I mean a straight-up film of analyzing, pondering, and exploring why we are here. "I Heart Huckabees" is a perfect example of an existential film, for it encompasses all of these things and more. It shows a satirical side of suburban sprawl, the environment, politics, business, greed, money, and so much more, for that may be the ticket to finding enlightenment.

We start out with Albert Markovski, played by Jason Schwartzman, who is the leader of a campaign to preserve some forest and marshland in suburban wasteland. Albert, who is the main character in a way, for his transformation is more complicated than the other characters and probably has the most screen time, encounters an odd business card after a series of bizarre coincidences and decides to make an appointment at the card’s location. We soon discover that the card promotes an existential company run by Bernard (a mop-top Dustin Hoffman) and Vivian. (Lily Tomlin). When Albert makes the decision to employ these two quirky people to examine his life, Albert says right up front that he doesn’t want to skim the surface of his life--he wants to find out the answer to the big question--what does it all mean?

Later on, we discover that the marshlands are under threat by the ever-growing company Huckabees, a Wal-Mart slash Target that is being invaded by the Mr. Perfect character of the story, Brad Stand, the executive-to-be, played by Jude Law, who is invading almost every film these days, as well. Brad Stand is the perfect guy who we love to hate, but hate that we hate him, for his job is basically charming anyone who he wants to benefit from. This charm works on Albert initially as we follow Bernard and Vivian along their zany job as analysts of Albert, but soon we discover that Brad is taking a hold of the forest committee that Albert started. Brad also is monitored by Vivian, who becomes interested in the concept of existentialism, and Vivian and Bernard become Brad’s employer.

Throughout the film, Bernard’s and Vivian’s explanations of the big question are gradually answered by the "Blanket Concept." "Say this blanket represents all the matter and energy in the universe, okay? This is me, this is you, and over here, this is the Eiffel Tower, right, it's Paris!" Basically, everyone and everything is connected, which is the lighter side to the meaning of life. Brad Stand’s girlfriend, Dawn, (played by Naomi Watts) also gets examined by Vivian and Bernard, and at first is hesitant to come under observation, but drastically changes after she begins to understand their concepts. Dawn is the model for the Hucabees’ store and at first appears to be an immature adult, but dramatically transforms. Brad, on the other hand, becomes resistant to Vivian and Bernard’s observations, and proves to be difficult to understand, unlike Dawn.

While all of this is going on, Albert begins to have trouble coping with Vivian and Bernard’s answers as well. To help him go through the process, Albert is assigned a buddy, Tommy Corn, a firefighter and extreme environmentalist (he refuses to use automobiles--this includes fire trucks--so Tommy, quirkily played by Mark Wahlberg, bikes to fires. Tommy becomes Albert’s best friend in the story, and after a series of unfortunate events, Tommy encourages Albert to end the existential analysis of Vivian and Bernard, and in exchange, the two would begin the teachings of the darker side of the existential spectrum, taught by the elusive French lady Caterine Vuban. (Isabelle Hubert)

While the movie does open up a very original genre, there is a downside. The problem is that the meaning of life can never really be explained in under 120 minutes; it’s just so much more complicated that that. You’ve got to hand it to the director, David O. Russell, for putting such a tricky subject into a reasonably understandable context. You may recall Russell’s previous films that have a very wide range of subjects: "Three Kings" is probably his most notable, but that film has nothing to do with existentialism; it’s about Middle East conflicts.

One of the best things about this movie is that while it is an ensemble cast, every character seems to get his or her fair share of the screen time for the most part. I am also pleased to report that there was no weak link between them. Aall of the actors pulled their weight, so no one stole the show, but no one was the boring guy in the corner with no lines. All in all, "I Heart Huckabees" is worth your seven bucks.