Review of The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) by Alec B — 27 Aug 2014

This is a film about life in the corporate rat race. After the president of the Hudsucker Corporation commits suicide the board decides to put a moron in his place in order to make the stocks more affordable. Norville Barnes (played by Tim Robbins) is that moron, but despite his lack of brains things don't go quite the way the board planned. I got a lot of laughs out of this movie. Perhaps the most entertaining part was the surreal elements, like the overly structured mail room or the montage filled with people just laughing. It feels like a Terry Gilliam film at times, particularly in that mail room, and perhaps his films did inspire the Coens. I think one of my only issues with the film was the fact that I wasn't sure which elements of the story were supposed to be far-fetched and which were normal within the world they created. For instance, Norville proposes a concept that is merely a circle, obviously I think this is an idiotic thing and makes no sense. But we're already in a world where some mailboxes are miniature-sized and therefore the mail staff throws away items that are too large to fit, which seems equally idiotic. I guess I was just confused over where the line is drawn between fantasy and reality (which is the same issue I have with many of Gilliam's films.).

While I did have some problems figuring out those boundaries in the world they created, it was still a very interesting creation. I loved the idea of the quickly flipping boards that showed job openings that were available, and the ticker-tapes that just constantly filled the Hudsucker offices. It felt exaggerated just enough to add humor, but not so extreme that it was cartoony. That's not to say I mind those moments when the magical realism hits and it becomes somewhat cartoony. It actually adds something to the humor of the situations, and I love how the screenwriters basically cheat in order to get the protagonist out of a difficult situation. I didn't enjoy the seeming battle between good and evil they threw in, because that felt unnecessarily heavy-handed, but it didn't hurt the story very much. I will say that one of the oddest decisions they made was setting the movie in the 1950s, but then inserting Amy Archer (a reporter played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) who feels like she was plucked out of a 1930s film. She is way over-the-top, and I didn't like how she contrasted with everything else that was going on. In fact her entire character rubbed me the wrong way. Despite a few minor missteps I still found The Hudsucker Proxy to be an extremely fun film that entertained throughout. I was genuinely surprised by how much I laughed, and I would gladly watch it again whenever I have the opportunity.