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Rating: In 1994, three years after the critical (more than public) success of Barton Fink, the Coen brothers are approached by the very same film industry criticized in their previous work. They are granted complete freedom on every aspect and a generous budget (25 million dollars, the most in their career); the brothers decide to revisit an old screenplay written with Sam Raimi in the '80s (put aside because it was too expensive at the time): once again, we face the postmodernist deconstruction of a specific film genre, in this case, the 1930s-40s screwball comedy with major influences from (and significant impact throughout the film) Frank Capra, Preston Sturges, and Howard Hawks.
New York, December 1, 1958, it's a chaotic day at the affluent Hudsucker Industries: President Waring Hudsucker unexpectedly leaps from the 44th floor; the board of directors, led by the scheming Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman), decides to drop the company's shares so that when, 30 days later, those belonging to the deceased president go on sale, the same board members can repurchase them at bargain prices. To make the stock manipulation more believable, they choose Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) as the new president, a naive, newly graduated provincial believed by everyone to be a halfwit. Suspecting the plan is career journalist Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who, pretending to be a desperate damsel, gets hired as a secretary by the new and unknown president. Mussburger's plans risk falling apart when Norville decides to produce his invention, the hula hoop, which unexpectedly becomes a global success in no time. But Mussburger has more than one ace up his sleeve and will do everything to get rid of Norville, while Amy, having fallen in love with him over time, will try in every way to help him.
While the previous film could be schematized vertically as an alternation of Heaven (Hollywood) and Hell (the hotel), in this film the geometrical theme is the circle, recurring in the hula hoop, the frisbee, the large clock overlooking the company's building, and the very structure of the film, which opens with the final scene and recounts the entire story with a long flashback.
Sam Raimi's influence is strongly felt because the usual Coen pessimism is, for once, softened: unlike the many failed characters that populate the brothers' filmography, Norville manages to improve his situation, becoming a perfect product of the American dream; to dispel any doubts, the two directors even furnish a surreal happy end, perhaps one of the most ingenious devices in their comedic works: as Norville falls from the Hudsucker building, the gears of the huge clock are blocked, stopping time itself, and the new president finds himself suspended in mid-air, conversing with Waring Hudsucker who has descended from heaven in the form of an angel complete with halo, feathered wings, and lyre (a more or less explicit reference to Clarence the angel from It's a Wonderful Life by Frank Capra).
Besides the many references to other works, the Coens enjoy self-referencing: Hudsucker is both the penitentiary glimpsed in the prologue of Crimewave and the industry where H.I./Nicolas Cage works in Raising Arizona and (also from the same film) the song sung by the escaping brothers after Nathan Jr.'s kidnapping is the same one sung by Waring Hudsucker descending from the sky.
The 25 million budget is excellently spent: the actors perfectly portray their characters and none appear underwhelming, the visual effects, colors and settings are excellent, every frame is imbued with a bright and lively spirit and lacks the slowness felt in some instances of their previous, more renowned films.
On the other hand, however, everything seems too simplistic and conventional; even though the plot appears suitable, there's little of the Coen's sharp satire, diluting everything in perhaps excessive sentimentality. We can consider it a beautiful film without a soul, lacking enough emotions and engagement, and the plot devices (see the finale) suggest that even the authors didn't intend to take themselves seriously. It's no coincidence that the film is considered a minor work, also because it's positioned in the filmography between much more significant works by the directors.
The box office flop will drive the brothers back to work on projects with more modest budgets and their loyal actors (though there are still small cameos for Jon Polito, Steve Buscemi, and Sam Raimi). Good film, but only for completists of the brothers' filmography.
RATING = 7
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