Although set in the late 50's, this is really the Coens' tribute to the Hollywood urban/screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's. Such a milieu is appropriate for their love of regular schmucks and off-beat, rapid-fire dialogue. And it's a pretty good story, one that would be right at home among the works of Capra, Hawks and Sturges. But the Coens have a tendency to go big, and when working in an idiom that already calls for big performances, it's a case of overkill. From the exaggerated design of the corporate machine to Jennifer Jason Leigh's ridiculous attempt at a period dialect, it all screams "trying too hard." The tone is just too tongue-in-cheek, it needs a little more sincerity and a little less winking. The gags get smothered by all the stylistic choices, and consequently the film just isn't very funny. But it does have heart, in the same way that similarly goofy pictures like RAISING ARIZONA and O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? (another Sturges tribute) do. Leigh might be a disaster on every level, but Robbins pulls off his smarter-than-he-looks-but-not-by-much character very well. Not as bad as I feared, but definitely not one of their best.
Review of The Hudsucker Proxy
