Home Theater: I Heart Huckabees: Two Disc Special Edition and The Brady Bunch: The Complete First Season

By Bob Grimm

Huckabees offers deep thoughts--and belly laughs

I Heart Huckabees: Two Disc Special Edition

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Morgan Freeman recently took home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his great work in Million Dollar Baby. I'll go ahead and play the lame-assed "If I Picked the Oscar Winner" game here for a moment and say that a man not even nominated should've taken home the golden boy this year.

That would be Mark Wahlberg, who freaking killed me as Tommy Corn, the environmentally conscious fireman who refused to ride in the big red truck because it burned too much fuel. Wahlberg did a pitch-perfect rendition of an activist so wound up in his beliefs that he becomes cranky and enraged. Wahlberg has done his best work in two films by director David O. Russell, this one and his oil-chugging turn in Three Kings.

As for O. Russell, the writer-director is one of the most creative forces currently working in movies today. This "existential comedy" is at once mind-bending and hilarious, and it can safely be said that it is like no other. Jason Schwartzman plays an environmental activist who hires existential detectives (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) to investigate a coincidence in his life. Jude Law and Naomi Watts join the fray as corporate puppets who discover their rivers run a little deeper than they suspected.

It's all very weird and often extremely funny. Watts is especially hilarious in her first straight comedy role, showing that her acting prowess goes far beyond crying a lot (Not a slam; Naomi cries with the best of them).

Special features: There are two DVDs currently available. One is a single disc that includes commentaries from O. Russell, Wahlberg, Watts (who phones in) and Schwartzman. Cough up a couple extra bucks for the two-disc puppy, which includes the commentaries but also boasts an impressive production diary. You get the chance to see Dustin Hoffman fart on set!

The first (and best) season of 'The Brady Bunch'

The Brady Bunch: The Complete First Season

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Before "The Brady Bunch" went absolutely sick in the head with such weird episodes as the one where Cindy was trying to be the next Shirley Temple and Bobby dyed his hair green, it was actually a fairly good show.

I was only about six years old when it got cancelled in '74, so chances are I never saw one of the shows when it first ran. I used to watch the reruns when home from school while faking illness or actually vomiting due to legitimate malady. Maybe that's why I get a little nauseous when I think of certain Brady episodes. As I sit here reminiscing about the episode where Greg and Marcia shared the attic as a bedroom, I'm feeling an ominous stir in my gut.

This DVD encapsulates season one, in which Mike Brady (Robert Reed, who hated the show with a passion) and Carol (Florence Henderson, who used to hawk cooking oil like Britney pushing Pepsi) got hitched and put all their kids under one roof. Season highlights include "Kitty Kerry-All is Missing," the harrowing tale of little Cindy's missing doll, and "Is There a Doctor in the House," the politically charged episode where the boys protest a woman doctor and the girls refuse a male.

This show pretty much started going down the tubes in season three when Peter's voice changed while the kids were trying to form a hit band. Don't get me wrong, that particular episode kicked royal ass, but it did pave the way for the Brady Bunch to become an Osmond family rip-off.

Special features: Barry Williams (Greg), Christopher Knight (Peter) and Susan Olsen (Cindy) provide very entertaining commentaries on two episodes, "The Hero" and "A-Camping We Will Go." The Brady Buch-Coming Together Under One Roof is a moderately interesting documentary on the makings of the show that offers a few interesting tidbits, but nothing awe-inspiring.