Film Forum

U.S., 2004
Directed by David O. Russell
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Isabelle Huppert, Mark Wahlberg, Naomi Watts
Approx. 107 min. 35mm.

“This high-wire comedy captures liberal-left despair with astonishingly good humor: it’s FAHRENHEIT 9/11 for the screwball set. Chockablock with strange bedfellows -- Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin play a hot-and-heavy married couple, Jason Schwartzman gets his groove on with Isabelle Huppert -- the film is a snort-out-loud-funny master class of controlled chaos. In this topsy-turvy world, where Yes is the new corporate No and businesses sponsor environmental causes while bulldozing over Ranger Rick, a pair of existentialist detectives sift through clients' trash to solve the riddle of their malaise. Like the film's director, David O. Russell, they gladly risk foolishness to plunge into the muck of human existence.”– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Reviews

“Captures liberal-left despair with astonishingly good humor.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“A very sweet, very mischievous motion picture that explores the question of why we are here.”  
– Joe Queenan, The Guardian

“All in all, this is the best movie about the Infinite Nothingness to come along in years. Jean-Paul Sartre would be tickled pinko.”
– Joe Queenan, The Guardian