THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1994 Michael John Legeros
Directed by Joel Coen
Written by Joel & Ethan Coen and Sam Raimi
Starring Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman, Charles Durning,
and John Mahoney
MPAA Rating "PG"
Running Time 111 minutes
===
"How about Oklahoma?"
- Tim Robbins to Jennifer Jason Leigh, after she slaps
him for suggesting THE KING AND I.
THE HUDSUCKER PROXY is the most technically accomplished film that you're likely to see this year. And it's also the coldest.
Courtesy of a believe-it-or-not partnership with producer Joel Silver--whose films typically have high body-counts and low Roman numerals--Minnesota twins Joel and Ethan Coen have gift-wrapped and delivered their biggest tinkertoy-set film yet. HUDSUCKER is just as calculated as BLOOD SIMPLE, just as manic as RAISING ARIZONA, just as showy as MILLER'S CROSSING, and just as stylish as BARTON FINK.
It looks good and moves good and sounds good, but, for the first time in five films, it feels awful.
HUDSUCKER opens with a desperate young man stepping onto the ledge of a skyscraper on a snowy New York New Year's Eve, 1958. His name is Norville Burnes (Robbins) and the story recounts how he came onto that ledge of Hudsucker Industries.
Fresh off the bus from Muncie, Indiana, Norville gets his start in the mail room on the very same day that president Waring Hudsucker (Durning) takes a flying leap from the 44th floor. Or 45th, if you include the mezzanine. The executive board--headed by schemer Sidney J. Mussberger (Newman)--wants to forestall a public takeover and installs Norville as a puppet president to lower investor confidence. The theory, of course, is that Norville is an idiot without an idea in his head. Said theory holds right up until the new head of Hudsucker invents the hula hoop....
The first half of HUDSUCKER moves just as quick as anything in the Coen comedy RAISING ARIZONA. Eye-popping gags and breathtaking set-pieces whiz by at a breakneck speed that's good for a solid hour of goofy giggles.
(Not to mention the uncomfortable realization that the Winterland Wunderkinds *throwaway* more tricks in one film than many directors use in a lifetime.)
Complimenting the visual wizardry is page after page of tart, ripe dialogue that moves as fast as the film. The Coens love old movies, no duh, and everyone in HUDSUCKER hurries through their harangues. Best Blabbers are Jennifer Jason Leigh, as a reporter-in-disguise with a Katheryn Hepburn accent, and John Mahoney as her editor.
The characters in HUDSUCKER look sharp and talk smart--but, with few exceptions, they never radiate much warmth or humanity. Which is a problem when the film slows and the characters stand revealed and the story strives for a moral message. Even *with* the Capraesque ending, THE HUDSUCKER PROXY nevers really warms up.
*That* said, the finale is a gas. But not in the way it should be.
The last fifteen minutes of HUDSUCKER are a sheer delight as they mark the return of a supporting character who beams with more life than any of the prominent players. Without spoiling the surprise, this person is the *real* flesh and blood in a towering set of tinkertoys and he makes you smile because he shows that there's at least a little heart buried under all the ice.
BOTTOM LINE: THE HUDSUCKER PROXY is a great-looking, cold-hearted
movie that should appeal to film fans more than the
mainstream movie-goer. Highly recommended for technical
appeal, alone.
Grade: B+
.
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