Netflix Screwball ’90s Comedy Brings Together Unbelievable Talent Roster

What is The Hudsucker Proxy about, though? Without giving you too many spoilers, this oddball film is about a man who hatches a scheme to lower the value of his company’s stock so that he can become the majority shareholder. He does this by installing an idiotic proxy, but his plan begins to fall apart when the so-called idiot invents something that causes the stock prices to soar.

Now, that brief description of corporate plotting and planning may make The Hudsucker Proxy sound very dry, but the film is surprisingly hilarious. That’s largely thanks to the Coen Brothers. This writer/director duo filled this film with the kind of trademark humor that made their other movies such as Raising Arizona and Fargo into such major hits.

Sam Raimi is also a co-writer on this film, a man whose strange humor as both a writer and director helped make movies like Evil Dead II and Darkman into enduring cult hits.

In addition to all of the talent behind the camera, The Hudsucker Proxy also has some captivating actors who bring this strange story to life. Hollywood icon Paul Newman plays the board of directors member scheming to get a majority share, and Tim Robbins plays the titular proxy. Jennifer Jason Leigh is perfect as a Pulitzer-winning reporter on the hunt for her next headline, and the supporting cast is rounded out by such reliable talents as John Goodman and Steve Buscemi.

Unfortunately, when The Hudsucker Proxy first came out, the public didn’t know what to make of it, and the film became a box office bomb. It earned only $11 million against a budget of $25 million. This kind of high-profile dud might have stalled out the Coen Brothers’ careers, but fortunately for them (and for film lovers everywhere), their next two films–Fargo and The Big Lebowski–were both critical and commercial smash hits.

Speaking of critics, they generally liked The Hudsucker Proxy. The movie currently has a 63 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics generally agreeing that the film is “intriguingly strange and visually distinctive.” Interestingly, the film also has a 79 percent audience score, making this an early example of a movie that wowed general audiences even more than professional critics.

Whether the movie will wow you, though, is more of an open question. To make up your own mind, all you have to do is stream The Hudsucker Proxy on Netflix today. By the time the credits roll, you’ll either agree that this screwball comedy is a hidden gem from the ‘90s or you’ll wish you hired your own proxy to watch the film on your behalf.