Mark Wahlberg plays an angry firefighter who, like Albert, becomes a client of husband-and-wife "existential detectives" (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) who cure angst by going through people's garbage.

After seeing the same conspicuous stranger three times, Albert contacts two existential detectives, Bernard and Vivian Jaffe (Hoffman and Tomlin).

One such was Tommy Oblivion, the existential detective, who specialised in cases that might or might not have actually happened.

I had a few useful tricks up my sleeve, but I was interested to see what the famous existential detective could do.

"Well, it depends what you mean by happy, and by ending," the existential detective began.

"This is Tommy Oblivion, the existential detective," I said.

I Heart Huckabees (2004) offbeat philosophical comedy involves two "existential detectives" (Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin) hired to uncover the meaning of life.

David O. Russel's I Heart Huckabees (2004) incorporates CGI effects to visually demonstrate philosophical theories explained by the existential detectives (played by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman).

And smiling calmly back at us-Tommy Oblivion, the existential detective, and Sandra Chance, the consulting necromancer.

Each of these characters suffers from some form of spiritual malaise and will hire Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin, a pair of "existential detectives," to investigate.