ElMaruecan82
After watching "The Hudsucker Proxy" again, and reading Roger Ebert's review (again), I lamentably admit that I'm totally out of words. The film is so incongruously appealing that I feel my review should match the same level of creativeness and wonder it brought on the screen. But seriously, what more can I say about the Coen brothers' "The Hudsucker Proxy" that it's one of the best-looking comedies ever. There are many moments in the film, (in fact, quite every time) where I felt myself wondering if I had to keep track on the story or my eyes on the dazzling looks it offered: from the beautiful panoramic shots of majestic and creepy Babel-Tower like skyscrapers or the sumptuous recreation of the Big Corporations' inside rooms with never-ending tables as vertiginous as the buildings, from a horizontal perspective. Roger Deakins' geometric cinematography is absolutely breath-taking and rather than being put for the only 'eye-pleasing' purpose, works as the setting of some spectacular scenes.The most notable one is the opening where the respected President, Waring Hudsucker, played by the late Charles Durning, decides to make the big dive, fed up of all that business mumbo-jumbo he had to endure his all life. That long jump and long is an understatement (Hudsucker even finds time to tell people on the ground to move away), is weirdly convincing and hilarious through the anticlimactic slap at the end, the obligatory fat-ugly woman screaming and the verbal aftermath carried by heartless board members and their ruthless leader, Sidney Mussburger, played by Paul Newman. The jump scene sums up the film's appeal: it looks great and makes you laugh. And naturally, if you're a fan of Frank Capra's classics where greedy corporate businessman use a naive and idealistic schmuck to fulfill some evil schemes, and all the subsequent archetypes: spinning closes-up on newspapers headlines, nosy and noisy journalists and the snappy wisecracking workaholic female who'll get infatuated on the goodhearted fool she investigates on (Tim Robbins is perfect as the well-meaning Norville Barnes), comic-reliefs sidekicks and all that stuff, well, if you look at Hollywood Golden Age with nostalgic eyes, "The Hudsucker Proxy" will be familiar territory for you. And that Capraesque touch clearly helps to appreciate the film.Indeed, that half-homage and half-parody approach constitutes a solid platform on which the improbability of the story can efficiently evolve. And for some strange reasons, to which the Coen brothers only know the secret, each actor, by playing his character in the required over-the-top way, gave them that touch of believability for the film's bizarre poetry. I concede it takes time to get into some characters, I for once, thought Jennifer Lason Leigh was unbearable as the journalist, now, I can't see how her performance could have worked differently. The point is not that she impersonated Katharine Hepburn or Rosalind Russell well or badly, but that she was 'impersonating'. It's a film firmly aware of its 'cinematicality'.Naturally, the film isn't beyond criticism for all that. Many would argue that its very attention to great designs and magnificent looking details give a touch of seriousness inducing more serious expectations regarding the plot. My agreement with Ebert concerns the way the poster spoiled what would have been one hell of a middle-plot twist. I'm talking of course of the circle that would be revealed as the hula-hoop. That basic circle, Norville Barnes showed to everyone, adding the repeated line "You know, for kids" as if it was supposed to give a clue, could have been the film's McGuffin since it's the very device that triggers Mussburger's desire to hire Barnes as the proxy, in order to depress the stock and buys all the company's interests, but what a great surprise it would have been to have that revealed in the middle of the film.Apart from that missed opportunity, the film works and never leaves any hint of a dramatic evolution of the story. And when drama, there is, it only plays as set-ups from some screwball situations, the opening with Norville Barnes trying to jump from the Hudsucker's high clock is a reminiscence of John Doe's character (Gary Cooper) in "Meet John Doe", but I defy anyone to claim that he saw the resolution coming. Not to say that it would satisfy all the viewers, but still, it fits the film's surrealistic touch to the film, with all flash and style, but not without substance. Granted "The Hudsucker Proxy" isn't "Metropolis", "The Crowd" or "Brazil" but by its stylistic recreation of these iconic setting, leverage our thoughts to the more satirical material. Maybe it's too far-fetched, but I didn't think the film needed to speak explicit statement against savage capitalism; the point is smoothly made without distracting from the slapstick and screwball material. The assumption of 'all flash and no substance' isn't totally irrelevant but with such flashy brilliance and such great dialogs, the film can't be branded as unsubstantial. It's classy, surrealist, and funny and much more, it succeeds to put all these qualities together, something a few films can pretend to achieve. And on a more basic level, the film is so damn funny. I laughed, I laughed a lot. Maybe not as much as in the first act, but the laughs were equally combined with true satire and a dazzling photography, served by superb performances.The film works both on the surface and its content. I wish I could say more, I wish my vocabulary would be richer, but all I can do is summarize the film by paraphrasing its repeated line "you know, for laughs" That's what it is, a movie made for laughs, and the rest is just a delightful cinematic experience, something fresh made out of familiar material. Basically, the Coen brothers did the same than Norville Barnes: they reinvented the wheel.
davidian0616
It fills me with really great satisfaction to see such an excellently made and acted movie. Every word, scene, prop, and symbol are perfectly blended into one great awesome package. It's incredibly funny, a as matter of fact it has one of the longest funny scenes I have ever seen in my life, and not a word is spoken in it. Kudos to everyone in this film, directing is amazing, the visualization magnificent. It's hilarious, yet thoughtful, morally uplifting, educational, proves a very valid point, and was released in 1994. I want to thank my friend for watching it with me immediately upon learning that I had not seen it before. Simply, wow and a whole lot of whohohohohohahahahahhaohohohoho!!!!!........
