As movies go, I Heart Huckabees is in a genre of its own: an existential comedy. The film lightheartedly romps through the life-altering and at times traumatic experiences of an environmentalist, a fireman, a sales executive for the Huckabees corporation, and his girlfriend, the model for and the “face” of Huckabees—subtly allowing the viewers to consider the deepest of questions without feeling the same loss of control. The content of the DVD, while it provides many alternate perspectives on the themes of the movie, fails to continue that buoyant self-examination and is best seen as a rehash of the film.
That said, there are a few items very much worth watching. The first of these is the Production Documentary. About half an hour long, this piece is behind the scenes footage interspersed with comments from the cast of the movie. At first, it focuses on the cast’s appreciation for the director, David O. Russell, and the unusual atmosphere generated by his unorthodox directorial style. After a while, the focus shifts to the exceptional talent of Naomi Watts, who plays Huckabees model Dawn Campbell.
Overall, the Production Documentary gives a good sense of the dynamic of the cast and crew and the effect the film had on the actors—namely that they felt they had been investigated by the existential detectives themselves, because it was impossible to make the movie without asking themselves the questions the characters face. While watching the Production Documentary, it becomes clear that the atmosphere among the actors and the director was exactly that which the movie conveys: seriously critical of how we think about life, meaning, and truth, but in a very playful way.
Another extra feature worth watching is the bevy of deleted or extended scenes—22 in fact. The deleted scenes are almost always the highlight of any DVD that has them, but in this case the material offered is some of the most informative of any on the DVD. Among the extra scenes are extended versions of just about every character’s key motivations, shedding light on and adding depth to much of the story in the movie. There’s more of the film’s humor here as well; watching Jason Schwartzman as Albert Markovski and Jude Law as Brad Stand break dancing in a meadow is funnier than someone juggling five flaming ferrets in Fredonia.
The rest of the material on the DVD is of interest to only the most devoted fans of this existential comedy. In particular, there is considerable effort spent on providing peripheral material from the characters. The booklet that comes with the DVD has a briefing on the Jaffe & Jaffe Existential Detective Agency, poems by Markovski, Tommy Corn’s blog, a Huckabees pamphlet, and excerpts from Caterine Vauban’s book. The Detective Infomercial attempts to continue this but falls flat on its face with a disjointed and nonsensical conversation about consciousness and new physics that drags on for far too long.
Other extra features include outtakes, of which there are four: an episode of the Charlie Rose Show in which Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, and Russell discuss the movie; short documentaries about the work of the production designer, costume designer, and composer; as well as short PSAs for organizations within the movie and a short piece called Miscellaneous Things People Did. The latter is just what it sounds like—random and mostly out-of-character funny moments from the filming, set to the same kind of quirky lounge music that pervades the movie.
Overall, the I Heart Huckabees 2-Disc Special Edition DVD is probably only worth buying for those totally enamored with this quixotic oddity of a film.
