Movie · 1984 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 1h 55m · R · English
Curator score: 4.4/10 (14.3K ratings)
Vladimir Ivanoff walks into a department store to buy blue jeans, walks out with a girl friend, an immigration lawyer and a buddy. His life and theirs will never be the same again.
Overview
A Russian circus visits the US. A clown wants to defect, but doesn't have the nerve. His saxophone playing friend however comes to the decision to defect in the middle of Bloomingdales. He is befriended by the black security guard and falls in love with the Italian immigrant from behind the perfume counter. We follow his life as he works his way through the American dream and tries to find work as a musician.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.4/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
Metacritic: 67
TMDB: 6.3/10
Director
Paul Mazursky
Production
Bavaria Film, ML Delphi Premier Productions, Columbia Pictures, Taurus Film
Cast
Robin Williams, María Conchita Alonso, Cleavant Derricks, Alejandro Rey, Savely Kramarov, Elya Baskin, Oleg Rudnik, Aleksandr Beniaminov, Lyudmila Kramarevskaya, Ivo Vrzal-Wiegand, Tiger Haynes, Eyde Byrde, Robert MacBeth, Donna Ingram-Young, Yury Olshansky, Olga Talyn, Aleksandr Narodetsky, Pierre Orcel, Stephanie Cotsirilos, Frederick Strother
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, offbeat immigrant comedy-drama with a strong central performance from Robin Williams and enough heart to balance its fish-out-of-water satire. It’s uneven and occasionally broad, but the emotional sincerity and cultural observation make it rewarding.
Best for
fans of Robin Williams in more restrained dramatic roles
viewers who like immigrant stories and culture-clash comedies
people drawn to 1980s New York character pieces
audiences who enjoy bittersweet, humanist dramedies
Skip if
you want a tightly plotted comedy
you dislike broad 1980s tonal shifts
you prefer more cynical or modern immigrant narratives
you’re looking for a pure romance or pure farce
Overview
Moscow on the Hudson is one of those 1980s studio films that feels looser and more personal than its premise suggests. What begins as a comic defection story becomes a surprisingly tender portrait of displacement, loneliness, and the strange freedom of starting over in America. Robin Williams is unusually grounded here, and that restraint gives the film much of its emotional pull.
Worth noting
Paul Mazursky mixes satire, romance, and social observation in a way that can feel uneven, but the movie’s sincerity keeps it afloat. The Bloomingdale’s sequence is the obvious comic set piece, yet the film is strongest when it watches Vladimir navigate language, work, friendship, and desire with equal parts wonder and confusion.
Bottom line
It’s not a hidden masterpiece, but it is a distinctive one: humane, a little shaggy, and very much of its era. If you like character-driven comedies that care about the immigrant experience and the cost of freedom, this is worth the trip.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (3.5★) · 128 likes
If there is one thing I have learned from the various documentaries about Robin Williams, it is that the actor has a vast filmography of which few, personally, I have had the pleasure of seeing. One of them is this film about a Soviet saxophonist who after a trip to New York with the Moscow circus and getting a taste of the good ole freedom, he decides to defect after a hilarious Bloomingdale's chase, manages to get some asylum and… more If there is one thing I have learned from the various documentaries about Robin Williams, it is that the actor has a vast filmography of which few, personally, I have had the pleasure of seeing. One of them is this film about a Soviet saxophonist who after a trip to New York with the Moscow circus and getting a taste of the good ole freedom, he decides to defect after a hilarious Bloomingdale's chase, manages to get some asylum and… more
chavel (4★) · 101 likes
Moscow on the Hudson is the best Robin Williams performance because it’s the one that is so radically outside his persona that he is unrecognizable from how else we knew him. Williams is Vladimir, a saxophonist from the Russian circus, who arrives in New York and loves it so instantly he defects at Bloomingdales. He meets an immigration lawyer and loves a shopgirl (Maria Conchita Alonso). The reason you may have never heard of Hudson or seen it play on… more Moscow on the Hudson is the best Robin Williams performance because it’s the one that is so radically outside his persona that he is unrecognizable from how else we knew him. Williams is Vladimir, a saxophonist from the Russian circus, who arrives in New York and loves it so instantly he defects at Bloomingdales. He meets an immigration lawyer and loves a shopgirl (Maria Conchita Alonso). The reason you may have never heard of Hudson or seen it play on… more
KYK · 92 likes
literally could not have predicted anything that happened in this movie, from the homophobic bloomingdale's employee becoming robin williams' greatest friend and confidante and one of the film's main characters to robin williams calling his italian gf's boobs... lamp chops ?
Eric Eidelstein (3★) · 75 likes
Wait Robin Williams is so hot in this…
Anny (4★) · 71 likes
There was something about Williams’ eyes that sent you to a different dimension.
2004 · Comedy, Drama · 2h 8m · PG-13 · Curator 4.8/10 (1.2M ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
A mainstream fish-out-of-water story that turns displacement into a gentle character study.