YMMV / The Hudsucker Proxy

• Angst? What Angst?: The reaction to Hudsucker's death, for most of the board. Mussburger (his Vice-President) even takes the cigar he had left behind and starts smoking it, proclaiming it would be a shame to "waste a Montecristo". There's only one guy who seems genuinely upset, and he's told to "quit showboating, Addison, the man's gone."
• Funny Moments:
  • "What the hell is it?!"
  • "Strictly speaking, I'm never supposed to do this. But have you got a better idea?"
• Genius Bonus: Notice how the movie goes from morning to night continuously (despite the story going over the course of months)?
  • A proxy is someone who stands in for another person if they are incapacitated or otherwise unable to speak. Norville Barnes was ALWAYS Hudsucker's proxy, by token of holding Hudsucker's last declaration to the board in his pocket!
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Y'know, for kids!"
  • "Extruded plastic dingus."
  • "They dock ya!"
• Older Than They Think: How many people know that "Y'know, for kids" originated here and not with The Nostalgia Critic?
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Steve Buscemi as the Beatnik bartender who's increasingly exasperated by a drunk Norville's inability to comprehend that he's not getting a martini in that establishment.
    Martinis are for squares, man!
  • Anna Nicole Smith's cameo (and film debut) is memorable, consisting of a single cat growl (though she does show up later, and with a proper line to boot).
  • Charles Durning only has two scenes, but Hudsucker is a constant presence in the film (heck, his name is in the movie title!)
• Retroactive Recognition: Buzz is played by Jim True-Frost, better known as Roland Pryzbylewski of The Wire.
• The Un-Twist: Some viewers believe the presence of a hula hoop on the poster drains the humor out of Norville's pitch consisting entirely of a circle drawn on scrap paper; seeing the hoop on the poster would make the circle appear less meaningless than it does to the characters who have yet to comprehend Norville's idea.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The excellent miniature work used to bring the complex cityscape to life. So good that it went on to get reused in other films such as Baby's Day Out, The Fifth Element and Godzilla (1998).
• Wangst: One executive sure does blubber a lot.

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