In a world that is often cruel and random there must be a pattern to the madness, and in I Heart Huckabee’s it is up to the existential detectives (Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman) to solve this puzzle for their clients.

When Albert Markovski (Jason Schwartzman) finds a card for the pair in his pocket he decides to ask them to solve a coincidence for him, but as they delve deeper into his problems they discover that a coincidence is not the only problem for Markovski.

Open Spaces, the organization he helped to found, works to protect nature from destruction by the corporate world. Through his work, Markovski teams up with a CEO of Huckabee’s department store, Brad Stand (Jude Law). Although at first the two work as a team, eventually Stand tries to oust Markovski from Open Spaces.

Stand wishes to take the organization in a more commercial direction by adding Shania Twain as the spokesperson; Markovski, however, thinks Open Spaces would benefit from the use of his ill-contrived poetry in pamphlets and mailings.

Although no one else questions Stand’s motives, Markovski remains wary of him, and by the end of the movie, viewers discover the that Markovski wariness was not so far-fetched.

His firefighter pal (Mark Wahlberg) offers some comic relief when the movie becomes too heavy. Huckabee’s spokesperson (Naomi Watts) also lightens the mood when she trades in her make-up and designer clothes for a bonnet and overalls as she searches to find the meaning behind life.

Even though at times the meanings behind the film can be profound, they often are lost in the complicated explanations the characters offer.

Hoffman’s character attempts to explain his theories of global existential connectedness, but the point is lost and it is hard to follow dialogue between Markovski and him.

Adding to the confusing dialogue, the story line has been overloaded with two many sub-plots about supporting character that only clutter the movie’s storyline. However, often members of the supporting cast give better performances than the film’s main characters.



Schwartzman’s portrayal of Markovski at times seems forced and lacks heart. However, Schwartzman is believable as an environmentalist, geek poet.

In the end, though, the story lines meld, and the detectives theory is proven: everything in life is connected in some huge interstellar way.

If viewers are able to get past the complicated plot, they may not heart Huckabee’s, but they will at least like it.