Anyone who proudly proclaims themselves a Coen brothers fan should in all rights like The Hudsucker Proxy. It’s not a huge stretch for the pair; they’re not taking a creative risk with its style or story – with examples of that being O Brother, Where Art Thou? or No Country for Old Men – but instead do what they’re so very good at. However despite it being familiar fare, that’s not exactly a bad thing when dealing with such cinematic wonders as the Coens.
Naïve business graduate Norville Barnes inadvertently becomes president of Hudsucker Industries after the current one commits suicide. However his sudden appointment is actually part of a stock scheme set up by other powerful members of the company.
One of the Coens' primary strengths is their ability to make you go along with whatever story or characters they muster, particularly the latter. You are (almost) always aware you’re watching characters with a capital C when it comes to their movies but they apply their creativity with such conviction and apparent pride that you don’t at all question it. Not even such bizarre names (a Coen trademark) as Hudsucker, Norville or Mussburger can disparage you from believing it within the context of the story.
The duo’s work can rarely be described as realistic but is that really the point? Do we really want that to (always) be the point? The early Blood Simple and the recent No Country for Old Men are about as a realistic as the pair is likely to get, and even then it’s not completely true-to-life. The Hudsucker Proxy may yet again be quite unrealistic but I think that’s part of its almost irresistible charm. It paints its characters and events as almost caricatures of real life ones or ones you may have seen in another movie altogether. But they are so enjoyable in that whimsical, quirky kind of way that you can disregard any problems with lack of realism you might have.
Like most of cinema’s great icons, the Coens get involved with most of the aspects of their work. They take it in turns to direct and produce and always co-write the scripts together. And I’m sure all of the other key aspects that make up the filmmaking process they have their hands on in some way. And it definitely shows; it makes every one of their films feel definitively theirs instead of dozens of people’s fingerprints being all over it which can often leave a film feeling impersonal to its audience.
The dialogue is just so much fun with one-liners and repeated phrases — “You know, for kids” — that are part of the brothers' trademark quotability. Most of these come from minor characters that only appear for seconds at a time throughout the movie but despite the abundance of them they never take precedence over the main players. Tim Robbins, being a newcomer to the Coens, is very much suited to their style. To use a quote from their much loved The Big Lebowski, “He fits right in there.” It’s always key for the main character, specifically in the work of these guys, to work in tune with everything else and I’m so very glad to say Robbins does. He’s always been a much underrated actor in my eyes (outside of The Shawshank Redemption I never really hear anyone giving him any praise) and here he gets to show off a talent many will probably not have realise he has — comedic timing. The Coens' dialogue is always very specifically laid out as far as how something is supposed to be said and Robbins just gets it dead on. He wouldn’t have been playing the part very long if he didn’t, that’s for sure.
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