SOURCE: "The Sphinx without a Riddle," in Sight and Sound, Vol. 4, No. 8, August, 1994, pp. 7-9.

In the following negative review, Harkness suggests that the Coens tried to combine the works of Frank Capra and Preston Sturges in The Hudsucker Proxy.

There's a fine line between homage and rip-off. The Coen Brothers' originality lies not in their stories, which are derived from any number of better-known sources, but in the sheer aplomb they bring to the film-making process, the relentless darkness of their humor and the ironic twists they give to familiar tales.

Blood Simple and Miller's Crossing are film noir plain but not simple, the latter owing so much to The Glass Key that it's a wonder the Hammett estate didn't sue for plagiarism. Raising Arizona functions simultaneously as a commentary on the baby-centric comedies of the mid-80s and a live-action realization of a Road Runner cartoon...