the hudsucker proxy

An enjoyable film, available for instant viewing on Netflix! Kind of strange to watch it during the current economic climate, though. Also can't help but wonder what the rules about leveraged buyouts were in 1959, such that the board felt like it needed a dummy president to drive down the price of the company's stock so that they could buy up the shares.

I usually always enjoy the Coen Brothers' movies, but there's always some odd deus ex machina detail that rubs me the wrong way--here, the clock guy. Also, some unexplained baddie, whose motivation I can't understand--here, the door sign guy. There's always some sort of incongruity or strange romantic pairing. Although I did enjoy seeing the usually intense-in-a-dark-way Jennifer Jason Leigh as a fast talking Rosalind-Russell-in-His-Girl-Friday role. This is a popular archetype for the Coens, and any film buff knows that that's what they were going for in Intolerable Cruelty--fascinating, witty, sharp-tongued women were the best stuff of Howard Hawks and George Cukor screwball comedies. It's just too bad Catherine Zeta Jones is one of those beautiful women with no heat, intrigue, or fascination. I mean, Grace Kelly was coldly beautiful, but she was sexy and enigmatic. CZJ is the perfect T Mobile spokeswoman, like a facade, a veneer with veneers. How can you not have chemistry with George Clooney?

I have yet to see Burn After Reading or No Country for Old Men. The latter is an error that must be rectified, but I am not convinced about the former.