A critical and commercial disaster of the same magnitude as ISHTAR and ONE FROM THE HEART, HUDSON HAWK isn't nearly as bad as mainstream reviewers thought it was--but it's still pretty bad. Bruce Willis's pet project, a MAD-magazine style takeoff on Hollywood-style heroism, is replete with
inside jokes, willfully over-the-top performances, and smug pop culture references, while the narrative and direction are woefully undisciplined. Willis and Danny Aiello play Hoboken cat burglars who get mixed up in an international intrigue surrounding the secret notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci,
encountering campy supervillains (Sandra Bernhardt, Richard E. Grant) and a sensuous nun (Andie McDowell) along the way. Like a number of similarly messy, extravagant spoofs--e.g., CASINO ROYALE or IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD--this one may be just excessive enough to develop a cult following.
It also proved quite popular with German audiences, for reasons we've been unable to fathom.
