I had seen the end of this film on cable before but it made a lot more sense after watching the whole thing. If it can be said to truly make a lot of sense. It is a tribute to the writer's craft more than that of the actors.
A distracted, conflicted young man comes to the existential detective agency to solve a coincidence in his life. In the process of solving the case the detectives systematically tear his life apart to allow him to see the importance and interconnectedness in life. Tension between an excess of meaning and the complete lack of meaning lead to an understanding of the human condition. The film is never really very serious but through its structure it confronts some of the key ontological questions about in a heuristic fashion.
Jason Swartzmann is growing on me, but i can't figure out if this is because he ends up in good films or if he is a good actor. Jude Law always plays a very convincing asshole and Mark Wahlberg is undistinguished. Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman get to almost steal the show because they get to play the excellently fun part of the detectives.
Heavy on the philosophy, but pretty watchable. The links from the wiki page make for good reading.
4 stars
...tomorrow, Woody Allen!
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