Wow. I don't even know where to begin with this movie. I definitely need to watch it again to let all of it sink in better, but on first viewing... it's okay, but I think it'll be better if I understand what's going on. Or maybe I'm overanalyzing too much and it's just not as deep as I thought.
The plot isn't that important, but I'll describe it anyway. A disenchanted young man named Albert (Jason Schwartzman) hires two "existential detectives" (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to basically follow him around and "solve" the mystery of the meaning of his life. Over the course of the film, the story also introduces Brad (Jude Law), a business-minded man who is eager to replace Albert at any cost as the director of the environmental group that Arthur runs and also a higher-up at the corporate store Huckabee's (basically Wal-mart); Dawn (Naomi Watts), Brad's trophy girlfriend and the spokeswoman for Huckabee's; Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), an environment-minded firefighter haunted by September 11th who is another case of the existential detectives; and Caterine (Isabelle Huppert), an author who offers Tommy and Albert an alternative philosophy to what the existential detectives are trying to instill in them.
The main focus of the film, though, is the two opposing philosophies presented by the detectives and Caterine. The detectives teach a very glass-half-full type of philosophy which basically says that all particles and all forms of energy in the world are connected and therefore everything has meaning. Caterine, on the other hand, teaches existentialism, basically that life and anything that happens in it has no meaning. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what they were saying. Anyway, the main point of the movie is that these two widely different philosophies can exist side-by-side and both apply to our lives.
Maybe someone smarter than me could discuss this or just explain it a little further? I don't mean to deter anyone from the film, it's actually a bit of a screwball comedy, just one that rests on some heady ideas is all. If nothing else, it is one of the most original movies of the year. Once I rewatch it, I should have a better idea of what it was all about.
The plot isn't that important, but I'll describe it anyway. A disenchanted young man named Albert (Jason Schwartzman) hires two "existential detectives" (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to basically follow him around and "solve" the mystery of the meaning of his life. Over the course of the film, the story also introduces Brad (Jude Law), a business-minded man who is eager to replace Albert at any cost as the director of the environmental group that Arthur runs and also a higher-up at the corporate store Huckabee's (basically Wal-mart); Dawn (Naomi Watts), Brad's trophy girlfriend and the spokeswoman for Huckabee's; Tommy (Mark Wahlberg), an environment-minded firefighter haunted by September 11th who is another case of the existential detectives; and Caterine (Isabelle Huppert), an author who offers Tommy and Albert an alternative philosophy to what the existential detectives are trying to instill in them.
The main focus of the film, though, is the two opposing philosophies presented by the detectives and Caterine. The detectives teach a very glass-half-full type of philosophy which basically says that all particles and all forms of energy in the world are connected and therefore everything has meaning. Caterine, on the other hand, teaches existentialism, basically that life and anything that happens in it has no meaning. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what they were saying. Anyway, the main point of the movie is that these two widely different philosophies can exist side-by-side and both apply to our lives.
Maybe someone smarter than me could discuss this or just explain it a little further? I don't mean to deter anyone from the film, it's actually a bit of a screwball comedy, just one that rests on some heady ideas is all. If nothing else, it is one of the most original movies of the year. Once I rewatch it, I should have a better idea of what it was all about.
