From the
sublime (Laura) to the ridiculous.
Hudson Hawk is the movie for when you are alone one evening and want to
be entertained by the fun of a movie without worrying about plot flaws,
continuity, believability or Andie MacDowell’s “acting”.
.
 |
| Rumor has it, they had to digitally add hair in every frame |
This is one
of those movies, I love, but I have no idea how it got made. Seriously, it is a mess. I think it was a Bruce Willis vanity project
in the Moonlighting time period, but I could be wrong – and it isn’t worth
looking up.
.
It flops
(like a fish out of water) from New York, to Rome to Florence with nary a
pause. I suppose I should try to tell
you what you are getting into. Here are
the high points.
.
 |
| She's very pretty. |
Bruce Willis
is Hudson Hawk, a recently paroled thief who wants to go straight (but they
keep pulling him back in). Andie MacDowll
plays a pseudo love interest who is, in reality, a undercover spy-nun for the
Vatican – and you thought she could barely pull off “girl #4”.
.
Danny Aiello
(poppa don’t preach) plays Hudson’s sidekick , partner in crime.
.
James Coburn
essentially wanders into the frame as an older version of Flint, the 690’s
swinging spy – and then out after introducing a bunch of kid CIA types.
.
 |
| Bunny (with 2 extras) |
Sandra
Bernhard and Richard Grant (and a Fox Terrier named Bunny) chew through scenery
with an abandon that is truly admirable.
I mean they are so over the top, they might as well be animated.
.
The plot, as
it were, centers on Hudson having to steal various models by DaVinci for Sandra
Bernhard and Richard Grant. It all has
to do with alchemy and gold and the Mayflowers obsession with sex. The Mayflowers the bad guys, not the
Mayflowers the pilgrims.
.
Hudson is
bad in a wonderful way. Unlike some bad
movies everyone knows they are in this for a kick and this is no piece of
art. And so the rift off each other and
look like they are having a great time.
Along the way, they happened to make an entertaining movie. Not good, but entertaining.
.
Except Andie
MacDowell. She is, as always, out of her
depth while acting – but she is better here, where no one is serious – than she
usually is.. And, of course, she is
gorgeous.
.