'Hail, Caesar!' A Review

Hail, Caesar! is a period comedy from the Coen Brothers. Set in an unspecified year post WWII pre-60's, we follow a day in the life of Hollywood studio fixer Eddie Mannix(Josh Brolin). Mannix contends with transitioning singing cowboy Hobie Doyle(Alden Ehrenreich) from westerns to period drama, the pregnancy of unmarried star DeeAnna Moran(Scarlett Johansson), the disappearance of religious epic Hail, Caesar! lead Baird Whitlock(George Clooney), an offer to leave show business from the Lockheed Corporation, on and on.

Brolin as the grizzled Hollywood vet anchors the film with an assurance that has humor but also weight. Ehrenreich puts in a surprisingly charming performance, open and earnest. The parade of cameos range from mildly amusing(Christopher Lambert, Wayne Knight) to incredible(Ralph Finnes as period drama director Laurence Laurentz coaching Ehrenreich's Doyle through a line reading is probably the funniest scene of the Coen's career, Channing Tatum in an all sailor song and dance number). There's an element of presentation to all the performances each, for the most part, embodying some old-Hollywood caricature or sending-up some showbiz archetype. Despite some of the farce and absurdity the film never goes off the rails and the actors never lose believability.

Hail, Caesar! doesn't have much of a story to speak of and what narrative it has is pretty meandering, seemingly unimportant, and heads to an ambiguous non-conclusion. Even so there is some interesting commentary on religion, filmmaking, and economics. As well as numerous enlivening contradictions.

Not totally cogent but very playful and fun.

See It.