Every Coen Brothers Movie Ranked Worst To Best

In The Hudsucker Proxy, Tim Robbins portrays Norville Barnes, a businessman who finds himself embroiled in the death of his boss and clashing with the enigmatic Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman). It has some funny moments, most of them very dark, and offers solid performances from Robbins, Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Unfortunately, there's not much to the movie outside of its admittedly impressive set pieces and art direction. It looks pretty, sure, but the substance is lacking, which isn't something the Coen Brothers ever struggle with.

On top of that, despite all the effort the three leads put into their roles, they are let down by the script, which offers little insight into the true complexities of their characters. All told, it never seems, over its two hour runtime, to be completely aware of what it wants to be - a fast-talking satire of capitalism, or a dramatic crime caper?

The film never successfully answers this question, and whilst it's entertaining on the surface, there's a complete lack of depth which makes it fall short of the Brothers' other projects.