The Hudsucker Proxy

Coen brothers comedy following the unlikely adventures of Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), a college graduate who secures a job in the postroom at Hudsucker Industries just as its chairman is jumping fifty floors to his death. The chairman's scheming aide, Mussburger (Paul Newman), decides to hire Norville as chairman, presuming he is a dunce whose new position will frighten the stockholders into selling all their stock cheaply, thus allowing him to consolidate his hold on the company. A cynical journalist, Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh), masquerades as Norville's secretary in the hope of scooping a feature, but ends up falling for Norville, who in the meantime invents the hula-hoop, makes a fortune and revives the company's stock. (Universal Pictures UK)