This is the beginning of an unofficial trilogy of Coen Brothers movies for me: the “I don’t know have much to say about this” trilogy. This triumvirate is what has kept me from writing about their work extensively in the past, but now I’ve started it, and my tens of readers would have my head if I stopped now.
With Fargo and The Big Lebowski, I don’t know what I’ll be able to add to those as they are now unimpeachable classics that I simply enjoy. But since I love those two movies, I’ll at least be able to gush over them for a thousand words or so. The Hudsucker Proxy on the other hand…
Look, I like this movie, but it took time. When I first watched it (I’m not sure the exact year, but I was probably in high school), I reacted as many critics and audiences did upon its original release: what the fuck is this screwball comedy shit? Why is Jennifer Jason Leigh talking like that? Why does this look like a Tim Burton movie? Etc.
Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the style and performances of the film, and I find most of it genuinely funny. Jennifer Jason Leigh is now the standout, in my opinion, and I wish there were more scenes with her and Bruce Campbell. The general chaos of the Hudsucker Company is funny, as well, with the mailroom being the standout sequence for me (“And they dock ya!”). In other words, this is a lot of zany fun. But it’s still nowhere near my favorite films from the Coens, and I’m trying to figure out why.
As I look ahead to future Coen films I’m going to cover, I realized that I’m split on their comedies. To be fair, all their movies are comedic, but only seven (in my estimation) are straight up comedies: Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, Burn After Reading, and Hail, Caesar! Of those, I love Arizona and Lebowski; I like Hudsucker and Ladykillers; and I’m generally indifferent about the rest, though I’m hoping they all grow on me with the upcoming rewatches.
It’s strange, but when these filmmakers that I find hilarious make predominantly comedic films, they more often than not leave me underwhelmed. Perhaps I can only take so much style and quirkiness. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t I hate Raising Arizona? But comedy is the most subjective type of film, so it’s hard to explain. Obviously, I jive with their comedic sensibilities, but I suppose at times it can be too much of a good thing.
In the case of Hudsucker, I think it’s just that this movie is a lot to deal with. That’s part of the point of the film as Tim Robbins serves as a cipher for the audience as he’s thrown into this chaotic business world of the fast-talking screwball era. The question becomes: is all this chaos funny or just annoying? For me, at least for the first couple of viewings, it was definitely annoying. But as I’ve rewatched it over the years (going in prepared for the zaniness helps), I’ve found it increasingly funny.
I prefer the darker comedic moments of the Coens (and there are a few of those in Hudsucker, most notably the immediate reaction to Hudsucker’s suicide), and this film goes for a slightly sillier tone, earning them their only PG rating. It made me wonder during this rewatch if the oft-repeated line “You know, for kids!” was aimed at the audience, as well. Raising Arizona is the closest they’ve ever come to making a live-action cartoon, but it’s still a little too dark to be considered a kids’ movie. And Hudsucker certainly isn’t a straight up kids’ movie, but it’s the closest they’ve ever come to making one, for sure.
Hudsucker is a film that my children (they weren’t in the room for my rewatches, so I didn’t get a chance to test this theory) might enjoy without understanding most of the plot. The fast talking and general loudness of the film is as stimulating as any other kids’ movie these days, though the production value and filmmaking is light years beyond most kids’ fodder.
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