This is one thing that really got me about this movie. He wasn't the least bit likable; he was an arrogant jerk. As far as charming, if you consider someone screwing you over and treating you like an idiot while smiling at you charming (which I don't), then I guess he was.
shareI don't think he was supposed to be likeable, but at the end of the movie, we sympathize with him a little bit because he and Albert come to an understanding.
"All this wishing I was dead is getting old; it's getting old, it goes on, but it's old."
He's likeable because, while he's screwing over Albert, he continues to charm everyone else. The audience is meant to see it and know what's going on, but the other characters aren't, because if you didn't understand this aspect, you miss the gyst of his character. You've probably encountered people in your life who possessed that skill and never knew it.
http://www.pinkpowderroom.dk/2009/09/08/ahh-jude/
He's not as "likeable" as he is a tragic character by the end of the film.
All of that gets summed up when he's in that room with the detectives and they're talking about how he keeps repeating the "mayo" story. We realize that he is NOT perfect as he makes it out to be and that he REALIZES this in a sense and is ashamed of it.
You gotta feel somewhat sorry for him there...
www.simplydustinhoffman.com
-#1 site for Dustin Hoffman fans-
Personally, I thought is was a great way to show how everyone at Huckabees was crass and shallow. If they could be "charmed" by someone so obviously repulsive, they, too, must be as broken as he.
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