I absolutely love the Coen Brothers (see my True Grit review from January for another Coen feature) and have made it an extra goal of mine to include a few of their films I haven't seen as part of this countdown. Today's, The Hudsucker Proxy, I picked mostly because it was available for instant streaming, but also because I felt like a comedy, and it has Tim Robbins, who's pretty great.
This makes the sixth (sadly, only the seventh) of their films I've seen, and, also sadly, it's the one I've liked the least. Now, when you're up against old standbys No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski, as well as the underrated Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing and the exceptional, little-known Blood Simple, you have a lot to live up to. And this movie fell victim to its own pacing. It felt much longer than its 106 minutes, which is surprising when you consider that there's very little lead-up at all to the main premise of the story: Norville Barnes (Robbins) is hired as a low-level employee of Hudsucker Industries and is promoted to president as a patsy when his moronity shows through.
He does, however, have an idea for the invention of the hula hoop ("You know... for kids!") that brings him both success and the expectation of more ideas. When they are not forthcoming and all the pressure goes to his idea, difficulties (and 70 percent of the film) ensue. Unfortunately, the movie lags and suffers a bit under its own weight of rising action and ennouement. Robbins is overall fine, Paul Newman is fine in a role he could have done in his sleep, and Jennifer Jason Leigh has bits of brilliance in a role often as monotonous as her character's intonation. Overall, not a must-see, but you could do a lot worse.
Score: 6.5/10
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