‎The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) directed by Joel Coen • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The Hudsucker Proxy

1994 Directed by Joel Coen

They took him for a fall guy... but he threw them for a hoop.

A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.

Tim Robbins Jennifer Jason Leigh Paul Newman Charles Durning John Mahoney Jim True-Frost Bill Cobbs Bruce Campbell Harry Bugin Joe Grifasi Steve Buscemi Anna Nicole Smith Joanne Pankow Thom Noble Stan Adams John Seitz Roy Brocksmith I.M. Hobson Jon Polito John Goodman Colin Fickes Todd Alcott Richard Schiff Roderick Peeples

111 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★★½

Time is a flat circle.
Review by Arielrocks5 ★★★★★ 22

"The Hudsucker Proxy" is something I can only describe as.......I, honestly don't know. I'm joking. I've been having the hardest time trying to come up with what to say about this movie.

There's just something about it that keeps me from figuring out the perfect words to properly describe it. It's a dark screwball comedy with plenty of the typical things you'd expect from a Coen brother's production (Along with co writer Sam Raimi) but, I don't know what it was, I just, couldn't get enough of it.

There's this weird charm to it that lasts throughout a the entire run time that I never wanted it to end and even if I knew where most of the story beats…
Review by Steve G ★★★★ 10

Easy As ABC

"I need unguent" - Steve G Does The Coens

I'd like a tickbox when I do Letterboxd reviews marked 'This review isn't really about this film at all and is of no use to you at all if you were looking for an opinion on this film'. I would probably end up ticking that a lot.

I would definitely have been in with a great chance of ticking that box with The Hudsucker Proxy - and I think I would have been considering doing it after just a couple of minutes of Jennifer Jason Leigh's performance. I would like to know at what point she is going to be recognised as the outstanding actor that she is…
Review by Disgustipated ★★★★★

Between this and The Big Short, it inspired this list Ive put together:

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore list
Review by Emily Housel ★★★★

Better than Meet John Doe. The only way to do old hollywood. This was so much fun.
"You know... for kids!"
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★½

"You know, for kids!"

Misunderstood period comedy from the Coen brothers which was panned on its release. While it's certainly not up to the standard set by the duo's other works, it's also much better than critics would have you believe. Great unity of visual composition (the shots of the Hudsucker board room and the mail room as well as the shot straight down the front of the building are all structurally identical), and Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh are a delight.

Recent reviews

Review by reza2106 ½

بنظرم وكيل هادساكر يك فيلم ضعيف هست در كارنامه كوئن ها، فيلم آغاز خوبى داره اما يك ربع هم دوام نمياره و شاهد يك ماراتون خسته كننده هستيم پر از لودگى. كوئن ها خواستن يك فضاى فانتزى خاص بسازن اما موفق نبودن، در اين ميان پل نيومن يك بازى بسيار خوب ارائه داده در نقش بدمن قصه. اما كاراكترش پرداخت خاصى نداره. نقش اصلى با بازى تيم رابينز خيلى بى مزه و نچسب هست و نميتونه خودشو در نقش جا بندازه.جنيفر جيسون لى در نقش زن اغواگر هم خوب عمل ميكنه با اين حال همه كاراكتر ها بنظرم ناقص هستن.
فيلم خيلى سعى ميكنه كه كمدى بسازه و مخاطب بخندونه اما اصل موفق نيست. به جز يكى دو سكانس حتى…
Review by twincoves ★★★★½

I may like the goofey (yet sophisticated) side of the coen’s vast and creative filmography more than the serious side. I’m still not convinced this film isn’t prefect.
Review by Zak Bronson ★★ 1

Thank God this is the last time the Coens worked with Sam Raimi.
Review by Chris ★★★

Watching The Hudsucker Proxy today is, u would imagine, a far less concerning experience than watching it upon its initial release. As a piece of entertainment, it sports perfectly competent filmmaking and it is, as far as films go, a perfectly well-intentioned piece at that. But as a stepping stone in the Coen brothers' career it's their first notable misstep as artists. Knowing now that they would go on to learn from their mistakes and make the instant classic Fargo, it's easy to brush off the film's inadequacies, but as a Coen brothers film, The Hudsucker Proxy lays bare their greatest inadequacies, and perhaps most concerningly it proves that their singularly amusing sensibilities can easily become exhausting. Certainly not without its likeable and memorable moments, but an underwhelming piece when compared to the triumphs of their other features. Not so much immemorable as disappointingly simplistic.
Review by BinaryEsoterica ★★★★

Task #11 on Scavenger Hunt 30

A film that’s title is fun to say

Ya know, for kids.

I am starting to cheat on one of my goals. Not gonna make it if I insist on watching films I have not seen before. (Oct. is booked. Gotta watch Tales from the Crypt and/or Darkside. Probably some other dumb horror movies as well)

I've seen this multiple times. It keeps getting better. JJL is so much fun in this.
Review by Death Pincus: The Ev That Eats ★★★★★

Heavy on style & even heavier on charm, The Hudsucker Proxy has an unfair reputation as a lesser work of the Coens, which is odd to me, considering this is better than The Big Lebowski by pretty much every measure. I won't claim it's the best movie they've ever made, but I'm fairly sure it's my favorite.
Review by A_Dawg ★★★★

Hudsucker Industries in New York is a money making machine, at the height of their success....so it comes as a total surprise when the company's founder and president, Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning), kills himself by jumping from the 44th floor. Hudsucker's ruthless second in command, Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman), discovers that Waring's stock shares will be sold to the public. This is distressing to him, and the board of directors. They come up with a scheme - they'll hire an incompetent replacement for Waring; this will, in turn, upset the stockholders, which will drive the stock prices down and enable the board to buy the controlling interest in the company. Their choice is Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), a business college…
Review by Jordan ★★★

It has visual flair and a certain charming ridiculousness, but the satire isn't as subversive as it thinks it is, and the characters all become grating after a while.
Review by Jacob Gehman ★★★

The Hudsucker Proxy was one of two Coen Bros films that I hadn't seen yet, and now I'm just down to The Man Who Wasn't There. I won't say that I'd been avoiding The Hudsucker Proxy, but I hate the title, I hate the poster, and I never found it cheap enough to be worth picking up. In fact, I think my exact reaction when I found out The Hudsucker Proxy was a Coen Bros film was, "That movie?"

Yes, that movie.

The Hudsucker Proxy feels like the Coen Bros deciding to do their best Terry Gilliam imitation, except crossed with a good dose of "idiot" humor. You know, the type of "fool accidents himself into stardom" type of comedy…