Sorry, this movie sucks

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The Coen Brothers are hit and miss with me (I tend to have a preference more towards their comedy then their drama) but The Hudsucker Proxy is by far my favourite movie of theirs, a film which feels like it was tailor made for me. The Hudsucker Proxy takes place in its own unique universe; the acting style in the film is reminiscent of the 1930's yet the film is set in the 1950's. Likewise there appears to be a clash of fashion; the outfits are from the 30's yet the cars or the beatnik coffee house which Norvillie visits are unmistakably 1950's but I like this combination of two eras, two distinct time periods of Hollywood's golden age wrapped into one. The Hudsucker Proxy is a movie with so many layers and homage's to other movies (Sweet Smell of Success, Metropolis, The Apartment, The Producers, various Frank Capra movies); I'm sure with future viewings I will unlock even more secrets the movies holds. The Hudsucker Proxy is a love letter to anyone who loves the aesthetic of classic Hollywood movies with set designs to die for such as Paul Newman's office, an art deco fantasy land; yet the movie even injects some Terry Gilliam-esque cinematography with the scene in the mail room feeling like the world from 1985's Brazil. Likewise this is a movie of drawn out colours, mostly greys in what I feel is an attempt to emulate the appearance of black & white.What happened to Tim Robbins? He was on such a hot streak of films during the first half of the 90's, just after this he was in The Shawshank Redemption (one of the best two film streaks ever?); since then, not so much. The character of Norvillie Barnes is a Preston Sturges hero trapped in a Frank Capra story; although due to Robbin's resemblance to a young Orson Welles the character comes off to me as someone who has the look of Welles but has the personality of Gary Cooper; a young entrepreneurial go getter with a wide eyed innocence who is not fully in tune with reality, or at least hasn't been subjected to it yet. When he first arrives in New York and tries looking for a job, the word "experience" is plastered all over the frame, oh the reliability.Jennifer Jason Leigh is a revelation here; channelling Rosalind Russell, yet I can still detect elements of Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanywck and Jean Arthur in there. The coordination of her gestures is perfect and I'm also fascinated by her character dynamic in which she becomes insecure about her femininity or lack therefore off at Norville's comments of her trying to be one of the boys. Although it's never resolved, this still gives her character another layer of depth. Paul Newman on the other hand rarely ventured into comedy but he pulls of the cigar chomping, "you're fired!" type boss with ease.The film's combination of numerous elements from various genres is also carried over in its humour, from dry jokes to more overt, fast talking screwball antics. The gag with the circle drawn on the piece of paper followed by the uttering of "you know, for kids!" never gets old, even if the movie's poster somewhat spoils the joke. While the sequence detailing the creation and distribution of the Hula Hoop, I don't think I could you ask for a better fast paced quirky montage. Likewise the (almost literal) Deus Ex Machina ending could have easily come off as a copout but I feel is rescued from being so from the plot element of the blue letter; I completely forgot that even existed until the angel of Warren Hudsucker reminds a suicidal Norville about it; now that's a sign of an engaging film.

This movie is a blast in so many ways, yet it manages to loose grip of you a couple of times throughout. I don't know if it was the pace that was not right, or the story that didn't manage to keep it all together - either way, I often felt dragged out of the movie, waiting for it to grab a hold of me again.At its best, this movie is really creative and fun. There's so many good ideas put into this movie, like the variations on the circle design, the exaggerated characters and the visual design. Some of the "special" scenes, like one where a couple of older men comments upon a scene as we see it happening, or a ballet-like dream sequence, manage to feel as a natural part of the movie, despite being very odd in their nature. All of this makes for a memorable movie, that bears many re-watches.There are also some great performances in this, both by the leads and the bit players.

It's almost 1959 New Year's Eve and Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) gets out on the ledge of a highrise ready to jump. A year ago, he's a bright eye recent graduate arriving from Muncie, Indiana looking for a job. He starts work in the successful Hudsucker Industries' mail room. Owner Waring Hudsucker jumps to his death and his shares are up for sale on Jan 1, 1959. Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) comes up with an idea to drive down the stock so they could buy up the shares. Norville is given the dreaded blue letter to deliver to Mussburger and he makes the clueless Norville the new president. Chief (John Mahoney) berates his reporters to investigate the new Idea Man and fast-talking Pulitzer-winning reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) thinks he's a phony. She takes him for a sucker and he hires her as his secretary. Only he has a great idea... "you know, for kids."I really love two aspects of this. I love the awesome unique Coen visual brilliance. They fill this with very specific details. The other is the lovely JJL. I laugh at her non-stop monologue which is reminiscent of the old 50s screwball comedy. I guess it's not everybody cup of tea. Tim Robbins is sincere. It's wacky fun which may cut Coen fanatics the wrong way.

It is two weeks before the New Year of 1959. Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) has arrived in New York City looking for a job after his graduation from college in Muncie, Indiana. With no working experience, he found himself working at the mailroom of the Hudsucker Industries. On the same day, the company's founder and president Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning) unexpectedly committed suicide by jumping off from the top-floor window despite the company had been doing well financially.Back at the mailroom, there is the arrival of the 'Blue Letter' which Barnes had been assigned to hand it personally to Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman), a member of the board of directors. When Barnes did eventually meet Mussburger, he would forget about the letter he was supposed to deliver and began talking about the new invention he had for the company. Mussburger would eventually decide to let Barnes become the replacement for Hudsucker, acting as the proxy where the company's stock would deflate at the appointment of an inexperienced and incompetent president.Across town, Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the Pulitzer Prize- winning journalist for the Manhattan Argus had successfully gone undercover working as a personal secretary for Barnes, pretending to be another desperate graduate from Muncie. In actual fact, she was assigned to do a profile of Barnes. Along the way, she would come to see how Barnes had been transformed as a person after his idea of the hula hoop take off across the country, going against what Mussburger and the board had thought the invention would depress the company stock.This can be seen as a film of about reversal of fortunes, of how Barnes went from the mailroom clerk to the company president and how he nearly went back to how it all started for him before being saved by an unlikely source. It is what would happen towards the ending which brings one full circle of what happened at the beginning of the film.Overall, it is a fairly enjoyable film, if one likes to root for the underdog which in this case is Barnes with the exception of what happened when the hula hoop invention changed his fortune.