Let me begin by saying I love Bruce Willis. He proved in Moonlighting that he has a knack for comedy and in Die Hard that he belongs on the big screen, as great an action star as Hollywood has ever had. I also love comedies of all kinds- spoofs, black comedies, trash, generally everything on the Cult shelf at your now-extinct video store.
When Hudson Hawk came out I was just a lad laughing at the negative hype, the hatred that was directed toward the film. How bad could it be? I rented the video and learned just how bad. Bruce Willis, despite what I detect was some genuine emotional investment, creates a high-flying, sensory-numbing ego trip in which he tries to be the action hero, the comic relief, the romantic lead, the song and dance man, and the narrator all at the same time. What worked in the movie? Simply put: "Swingin' On A Star," the sequence in which Willis as cat burglar Hawk times a precision robbery with his partner not by synchronizing watches but by singing the standard while skateboarding past security guards. Had the movie remained this gentle, this clever, this much of a kick, we might have had something. Sadly, this is all that works in the entire movie.
What doesn't work? Where to begin: the entire supporting cast, with the stone-faced Andie MacDowell proving yet again why she's the worst actress to ever appear on the big screen. I don't know what's worse- the fact that she cannot express any emotion or the fact that every time she tries to she looks hideous, bucktoothed and backwards and paper-bag ugly. Speaking of ugly we're also treated to uber-nothing Sandra Bernhard as one of the villains, and you only have to watch her for ten seconds before it's plain she has no talent whatsoever. Last time I saw her was Nick @ Nite hosting the "America's Funniest Mom" Competition. That seems about right. Richard E. Grant as her villain partner is equally loathsome, and you'll come out of the movie literally hating the both of them. Gangsters and goons appear and disappear with no logical progression, David Caruso appears as a mute who holds up a card that reads: "My name is Kit-Kat. This is not a dream," and Bruce Willis breaks the fourth wall by smirking directly to the audience and delivering wry one-liners about the quality of the film. We didn't need him to tell us it sucks.
So anyway I watched the movie just recently, fifteen years later, with an open mind and no hype to distract me... it's still terrible. The fact that so many people here are saying good things about the movie honestly frightens me... I think they find it outrageous to proclaim one of the world's worst movies was really "not that bad." I don't know about you but I look for more than "not that bad" out of my viewing experiences. The movie was such a failure many predicted it would kill Willis' career, and while the critics were nasty about him and the movie they were not wrong. Hudson Hawk literally wiped the smirk off of Willis' face for a long while and brought one of Hollywood's biggest stars down to Earth for a much-needed reality check.
I can't stop you from seeing this movie. You'll probably have to learn for yourself... but don't say I didn't warn you.
GRADE: D-
When Hudson Hawk came out I was just a lad laughing at the negative hype, the hatred that was directed toward the film. How bad could it be? I rented the video and learned just how bad. Bruce Willis, despite what I detect was some genuine emotional investment, creates a high-flying, sensory-numbing ego trip in which he tries to be the action hero, the comic relief, the romantic lead, the song and dance man, and the narrator all at the same time. What worked in the movie? Simply put: "Swingin' On A Star," the sequence in which Willis as cat burglar Hawk times a precision robbery with his partner not by synchronizing watches but by singing the standard while skateboarding past security guards. Had the movie remained this gentle, this clever, this much of a kick, we might have had something. Sadly, this is all that works in the entire movie.
What doesn't work? Where to begin: the entire supporting cast, with the stone-faced Andie MacDowell proving yet again why she's the worst actress to ever appear on the big screen. I don't know what's worse- the fact that she cannot express any emotion or the fact that every time she tries to she looks hideous, bucktoothed and backwards and paper-bag ugly. Speaking of ugly we're also treated to uber-nothing Sandra Bernhard as one of the villains, and you only have to watch her for ten seconds before it's plain she has no talent whatsoever. Last time I saw her was Nick @ Nite hosting the "America's Funniest Mom" Competition. That seems about right. Richard E. Grant as her villain partner is equally loathsome, and you'll come out of the movie literally hating the both of them. Gangsters and goons appear and disappear with no logical progression, David Caruso appears as a mute who holds up a card that reads: "My name is Kit-Kat. This is not a dream," and Bruce Willis breaks the fourth wall by smirking directly to the audience and delivering wry one-liners about the quality of the film. We didn't need him to tell us it sucks.
So anyway I watched the movie just recently, fifteen years later, with an open mind and no hype to distract me... it's still terrible. The fact that so many people here are saying good things about the movie honestly frightens me... I think they find it outrageous to proclaim one of the world's worst movies was really "not that bad." I don't know about you but I look for more than "not that bad" out of my viewing experiences. The movie was such a failure many predicted it would kill Willis' career, and while the critics were nasty about him and the movie they were not wrong. Hudson Hawk literally wiped the smirk off of Willis' face for a long while and brought one of Hollywood's biggest stars down to Earth for a much-needed reality check.
I can't stop you from seeing this movie. You'll probably have to learn for yourself... but don't say I didn't warn you.
GRADE: D-