Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- witty
- surreal
- irreverent
- lazy sunday
- holiday movie night
What critics said
Critics broadly recognized the film as visually inventive and technically accomplished, but found its elaborate classic-Hollywood pastiche emotionally thin and less absorbing than its style promised.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film uses 1930s and 1940s-style screwball performances, heightened sets, matte paintings, and period cinematic conventions.
Sidney Mussberger engineers Norville's appointment so the board can manipulate the stock price and seize Hudsucker Industries.
The board selects mail-room worker Norville Barnes as a disposable company president for its takeover scheme.
Hudsucker Industries and its cavernous mail room transform 1950s New York corporate life into an outsized fantasy landscape.
Films like The Hudsucker Proxy, and why
Brazil
Shared screwball comedy, stylized production design, and satirical treatment of corporate ambition.
The Player
Shared old-hollywood pastiche, newsroom energy, fast dialogue, and cynical institutional satire.
His Girl Friday
Shared screwball romantic tension, ambitious journalists, and heightened visual comedy rooted in classic studio traditions.
Being There
Shared surreal corporate satire, elaborate visual world-building, and darkly comic absurdism.
Movie Details
- Directors
- Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
- Release Date
- 1994-03-11
- Runtime
- 111 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (1241)
Cast
- Tim Robbins
- Jennifer Jason Leigh
- Paul Newman
- Charles Durning
- Jim True-Frost
- John Mahoney
- Bill Cobbs
- Bruce Campbell
- Harry Bugin
- John Seitz
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Hudsucker Proxy about?
- A naive mail-room worker becomes the pawn in a corporate takeover scheme, while a sharp reporter uncovers the machinery behind his manufactured rise.
- What is The Hudsucker Proxy like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Hudsucker Proxy as brisk, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Hudsucker Proxy violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Hudsucker Proxy as mild.
- What did critics think of The Hudsucker Proxy?
- Critics broadly recognized the film as visually inventive and technically accomplished, but found its elaborate classic-Hollywood pastiche emotionally thin and less absorbing than its style promised.
- Which films are like The Hudsucker Proxy?
- Films with a similar feel include Brazil, The Player, His Girl Friday, and Being There.
- How long is The Hudsucker Proxy?
- The Hudsucker Proxy runs 111 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Hudsucker Proxy?
- In United States, The Hudsucker Proxy is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand.
