Hail, Caesar!

Dir: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, The Coen Brothers

2016

****

The Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar! is a four star film, easily, but by their standards it's probably more a three. There is much to love about the brothers' comedy tribute to the bygone Hollywood golden years of sing-along westerns, synchronized swimming spectaculars, overblown Biblical epics and toe-tapping 'On the Town' style musicals. Each genre is treated with great respect and admiration, today's big Hollywood stars play tribute to many of the old-school characters of the time and the behind the scene shenanigans are explored with much hilarity. Josh Brolin plays Eddie Mannix, an official head of production at the studios, also known as a 'fixer' by those at the top. Mannix keeps directors, actors and especially the big boss happy by keeping the scandalous behaviour of his actors out of the press, Mannix being the film's link from one story to another. The Coen's are famous for being fans of the Golden era, they've incorporated that big studio style in all of their films: Barton Fink was about the old Hollywood writers and producers, Miller's crossing was the classic gangster flick, The Big Lebowski has one of the biggest and best 'show' scenes of all time and True Grit was quite the epic western. Each film of theirs has incorporated the key styles of that time, each with a noir edge and that unmistakable Hollywood panache. Hail, Caesar! is somewhat of a greatest hits compilation for the pair. Scarlett Johansson's synchronized swimming scene is stunning, Channing Tatum's tap-dancing number is impressively authentic and George Clooney's big Roman epic really does look the business. Behind the scenes we see into a slightly murkier world, the studio setting up its young stars with each other purely for the gossip columns, the public relations department looking for ways to cover up the fact that one of their female stars has a child out of wedlock and of course the red fear. The main story of the film involves the kidnap of the studios big star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) by a group of secret Communists, all of who are Hollywood writers. It's a big tongue in cheek nod to the big Red Scare of the McCarthy era, a serious subject seen just a few months previous in the brilliant Trumbo. The script is absolutely perfect and the funniest I've heard for some time, however, I feel that the delivery wasn't always as good as it could have been and certainly not as good as previously seen in any of the Coen's films. I think the film could have been just that little bit more cartoonish. There are some great scenes, such as when director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) tries to teach simple lines to westerns regular Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) who isn't used to doing 'real acting', when Mannix gathers a Priest, a Rabbi, a Protestant leader and an eastern Orthodox Clergyman to discuss the tastefulness of the studios depiction of Christ and the arrival of a Russian Submarine of the Californian cost but none of these scenes seem to flow very well or indeed fit together. It is a film about many different films but it rarely ever connects. I was expecting epic hi-jinks, when really it's more of a sketch show of half ideas. It looks stunning, has an amazing script, is very funny and was great performances but is, overall, a bit of a flimsy mess compared to the brother's previous work. The Coen's 'flimsy mess' is still a hundred times better than most of the mainstream films but the trailer promised more. I wanted to see more of Wayne Knight for starters and I really don't think Michael Gambon's narration brought anything to the film. Still, credit due for the idea and that killer script.