Review of The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) by Keeley S — 08 Feb 2010

I've seen my fair share of Coen brothers movies, and I can't say I've disliked a single one. Sure, maybe I didn't fully grasp the appreciation of Fargo and A Serious Man, but even their accepted lesser-works like The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty I find quite fun. Of course, this had to come to an end at some point, and The Hudsucker Proxy proved, as Death Proof did for Tarantino, everyone has their off-projects, especially when they try to hard to be an homage.

Hudsucker is a loving parody/homage in the style of early cinema. The giant corporation is portrayed as a machine, like something out of Fritz Lang's Metropolis (see, I've seen old movies). The undercover female-in-a-man's-world fast talking reporter is reminiscent of the hyper-confident women in the old movies who don't sound anything like people do in real life (picture the line "Why, I'm just a small town girl trying to make it in this world" and you know the character type I'm talking about). And there's a certain Jimmy Stewart-ness to Tim Robbins in the movie. An appearance of an angel made the Wonderful Life connection for me.

But the fact is that style went out for a reason: it was unbelievable and overbloated. As such, Hudsucker suffers the same fate. It can't seek refuge in age because it should have known better. Coen Brother's films are known for memorable characters, and Hudsucker fails here yet again, as none of the characters are particularly memorable (not even Paul Newman, who gives it his all).

In the end, the movie incorporates a "magical negro" stereotype in full force at the end, including a terribly random battle of good and evil. What Raimi and Coens were thinking when they decided to include this I'll never know. It may indeed by one of films great mysteries.

That being said, Hudsucker is funny at times and features some interesting visuals. But while it could have made comments on the 40s/50s filmmaking style, or update it somewhat, it takes refuge in the retro, taking all the cliches it could find with it. Thats not artful, thats just ignorant.