A modern screwball comedy about the ever turning wheels of fate. After an absurd scene in which Waring Hudsucker, president of Hudsucker Industries, leaps out a window to his death during a business meeting, small-town optimist Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) finds himself a puppet in Sydney Mussburger's (Paul Newman) evil scheme to take control of the company. Sydney promotes Norville from mail room clerk to president after Norville shows him the drawing above, explaining that it is a design that is "You know, for the kids" and that he's been working on it for years. Sydney assumes Norville is an idiot and therefore a perfect proxy during the transition after Waring's passing. What Sydney doesn't realize is that Norville has designed the hula-hoop, a toy that turns out to be one of Hudsucker Industries' biggest successes.
Screwball comedy isn't a genre term that gets thrown around a lot, and that's because it's a genre that more or less died out in the 1940s (with a handful of exceptions).
Hudsucker is set in the same time period, and so the film can feel almost a little like parody rather than a new neo-genre, especially during the news paper room scenes, reminiscent of classics like
His Girl Friday (1940), complete with a fast talking Hepburn-esque leading lady struggling to be one of the guys. Highly recommended if you enjoyed other cryptic Coen classics like
Barton Fink or are a fan of the classic genre. Hilarious cast, guaranteed laughs throughout.
A modern screwball comedy about the ever turning wheels of fate. After an absurd scene in which Waring Hudsucker, president of Hudsucker Industries, leaps out a window to his death during a business meeting, small-town optimist Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) finds himself a puppet in Sydney Mussburger's (Paul Newman) evil scheme to take control of the company. Sydney promotes Norville from mail room clerk to president after Norville shows him the drawing above, explaining that it is a design that is "You know, for the kids" and that he's been working on it for years. Sydney assumes Norville is an idiot and therefore a perfect proxy during the transition after Waring's passing. What Sydney doesn't realize is that Norville has designed the hula-hoop, a toy that turns out to be one of Hudsucker Industries' biggest successes.
Screwball comedy isn't a genre term that gets thrown around a lot, and that's because it's a genre that more or less died out in the 1940s (with a handful of exceptions). Hudsucker is set in the same time period, and so the film can feel almost a little like parody rather than a new neo-genre, especially during the news paper room scenes, reminiscent of classics like His Girl Friday (1940), complete with a fast talking Hepburn-esque leading lady struggling to be one of the guys. Highly recommended if you enjoyed other cryptic Coen classics like Barton Fink or are a fan of the classic genre. Hilarious cast, guaranteed laughs throughout.
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