With a healthy Film Contentiousness Quotient of 48.29 (details on the math here), David O. Russel’s bizarre comedy about metaphysical detectives is the tenth film to earn the dubious honor of a place in our canon of contentious movies. At the end of this post, we’ve listed all the films which have so far been featured.
The plot, as far as the word applies to I Heart Huckabees, concerns a young man who is freaked out by the strange coincidences he sees all over. He hires the services of a existential detective agency to help him figure out the meaning of his life… and in the words of the director himself, “hilarity ensues“.
Or not. No one argues the film is clever and original, but claims that it is “hilarious” are tenuous. A lot of people found the wacky humor and quirky philosophy spot-on, but just as many agreed with the Christopher Smith’s description of it, as “a high-concept, high-minded piece of pseudointellectual trash” (Bangor Daily News).
I Heart Huckabees
- Great! (56%, 9 Votes)
- Terrible! (44%, 7 Votes)
Total Voters: 16
Loading ...Here are a couple battling opinions from Criticker users.
Tate: “Zany, whack-fest with hilarious moments and unusual but terrific performances. Not really seen anything like it.”
Shmendrek: “One of the most painfully pretentious films I’ve ever seen. Beware the type of person who enjoys this film.”
And last week’s poll is closed, on Transformers. By a pretty wide margin, Criticker users have deemed it TERRIBLE. Poor Shia!
As promised, here’s a list of the films we’ve featured so far in order of how contentious they are. We’ll keep this list up-to-date as we feature more and more films with a high FCQ.
1. Eyes Wide Shut - FCQ 59.33 - Poll Result: GREAT!
2. King Kong - FCQ 52.74 - Poll Result: GREAT!
3. I Am Sam - FCQ 52.61 - Poll Result: TERRIBLE!
4. Dumb & Dumber - FCQ 52.01 - Poll Result: GREAT!
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest - FCQ 51.13 - Poll Result: TERRIBLE!
6. Brotherhood of the Wolf - FCQ 49.2 - Poll Result: GREAT!
7. I Heart Huckabees - FCQ 49.05 - Poll Result: pending…
8. Saw - FCQ 48.77 - Poll Result: TIE!
9. Transformers - FCQ 46.93 - Poll Result: TERRIBLE!
10. Marie Antoinette - FCQ 45.44 - Poll Result: GREAT!
Voted great, only because my initial reception was rather warm. It isn’t a great film but considering the recent barrage of “quirky comedies”, you can do much worse.
Well.. it wasn’t terrible, I just thought it was unsuccessful at what it was attempting to do. So sympathy points for effort.