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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 2658
Released: May 18, 1999 |
| Our Price: $5.78 |
| Used Price: $4.98 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A clerk (Robbins) is promoted to company president as part of a stock manipulation scheme, but the clerk has an idea that will ruin everything if he gets the chance.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 7-JUN-2005
Media Type: DVD
Description of The Hudsucker Proxy:
The Coen brothers (Raising Arizona, Fargo) have become the most consistently original filmmakers in the land. In a salute/reworking of the fast-talking comedies of the '40s, we follow Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) and his amazing rise to the top. But he's only a puppet for the evil Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman), who wants the company for himself. The Coens' design is the real star, and their first big-budget film will stimulate movie fans. The story weakens in the middle, but you will find very few films that move with this much imagination. As a Kate Hepburn hybrid, Jennifer Jason Leigh is wonderful in an almost unplayable role. The less you know about the film, the better it plays, so just think of it as How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying mixed with Brazil and every journalistic drama made before 1960. Cowritten by Sam Raimi. --Doug Thomas
The Hudsucker Proxy Reviews:
sort of the doctrine of the immaculate corporation in comedy form? 
2009-12-03 - In the 1950's American corporations could do now wrong.
Two of the inventions claimed by Norville Barnes are actually WHAM-O®
products made by a novelty toy company in the late 50's early 60's
( HULA HOOP® and FRISBEE®).
The idea here of a fall guy or scape goat is not new historically,
but here the result turns out differently than anybody
had planned. The suicide of the owner and president of
Hudsucker starts the movie. We even at the end
haven't a real clue what leads the successful man
to take his life ( except for the Blue Letter)?
I liked the movie but in these times when America
is closing up manufacturing here and moving them to cheap labor countries,
I think that seeing that the people who are doing this care for nothing
but how much they are getting out of it
may not be good for ordinary people to see
even in comedy? Tim Robbin's makes a very good fall guy...
This film didn't live up to its potential
2009-11-28 - I felt really cheated after watching this movie. It started out so great -- great cast -- fantastic music score. It starts out on a rather serious tone and just when you think you're going to see a really good movie, the rug gets pulled out from under you. It begins to turn into a mockery, a farce. You get past that slap and it seems to redeem itself somewhat and then WHAM! I had two thoughts after the movie was over: 1) I'm glad I got this from the library first before buying it 2) This could have been a great movie - it had all of the raw ingredients. Instead, it was just a very unsatisfying, ungratifying waste of two hours of my time.
Wait until they lower the price below $3.00 and then it might be worth your time and money.
Brightly funny and darkly satirical 
2009-11-25 - This was the third of a hat-trick of great Coen Brothers films and I think it is the best one. It is my favourite. The film is brightly funny but darkly satirical. It is uplifting as well. It absorbs the history of American cinema into a superb modern context, making the best of everything. It has many great set-pieces, wonderful sets and colour photography, great casting and acting. It is surely Paul Newman's best outing. Ravishing and wonderful. This is one of the best films ever made.
Pathetic 
2009-10-21 - Badly written -- the screenwriter evidently considers loud, inane wisecracking to be biting satire (it's not).
Badly directed -- the director seems to have thought large, empty sets would nicely set off against the long, empty script (it doesn't) and to have persuaded every single actor that loud and over-broad, with lots of distracting physical schtick thrown in for good measure, was just what his/her role required (it wasn't).
Badly acted -- the actors without exception seem to have had the mistaken impression that they were in a Broadway theater with the whole audience packed into the last rows and their "craft" required shouting every line and over emphasizing every movement and posture (they weren't and it didn't).
But, except for the inane screenwriting, inept direction, and inapt acting,...
A Loving, Well-Rendered Homage to Screwball Comedies 
2009-09-13 - The Hudsucker Proxy, released in 1994, is the Coen Brothers' homage to screwball comedies of the 1940s, particularly the works of directors like Preston Sturges. This film (co-written with Sam Raimi) was the Coens first film given a substantial budget and it went on to become a box-office failure. Many consider it one of the Coen's worst efforts. But is The Hudsucker Proxy a bad film? Hardly.
The year is 1958 and Waring Hardsucker (Charles Durning), president of Hudsucker Industries, suddenly leaps from the window of his company with no rhyme or reason. Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) is worried about the future of the company and hatches a scheme to get the stock down only to snatch it all up before it rises. For this to work, the company needs a new president, preferably a "proxy."
The proxy is naive country-boy Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), who works in the mailroom. He seems to be the perfect candidate, but Norville has a trick up his sleeve, in the shape of a circle.
The other major player is Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a fast-talking, Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter who sees something wrong with the simple-minded Norville's sudden promotion.
As I said earlier in this review, the film is meant to be in the spirit of the screwball comedies of so many years ago. I can almost guarantee I haven't seen a single specific film that inspired this one, but I'm familiar enough with the genre to appreciate what the Coens did here. For what it lacks in story and character, it more than makes up for in style and dialogue.
The dialogue is fast-paced, mile-a-minute, no-nonsense (sort of a contradiction being a "screwball comedy")dialogue that is not only hard to imitate but certainly hard to come up with. Not only is the dialogue pitch-perfect but the actors know exactly how to deliver it. Furthermore, the cinematography is miraculous and the set design is impeccable. It's hard to ignore how perfectly the Coen's captured the style and humor of these films.
With that said, many have pointed out that The Hudsucker Proxy values style over substance. I can't disagree with that. I think all the actor's played their roles to the best of their ability, but much of it does walk a fine line with parody. Paul Newman, however, is delightful as Mussburger and adds some much-needed austerity to the production.
While considered a rare failure by the Coen Brothers, I would not call this film a failure. It's a screwball comedy unlike any other since the genre was in its prime and it's made even better by having the distinct touch of the Coen Brothers on it. Despite it's imperfections, I find it hard to dislike or dismiss this film.
GRADE: B
