Hail, Caesar!  (2016)

I love the Coen Brothers. I love movies about making movies, and I love stories about the early days of Hollywood. I also love most of this cast, but despite so much love for individual aspects, I feel like the result is less than the sum of its parts.

Much like other Coen movies, this is a series of events and characters that all intertwine at various moments. Everyone is at a crossroads, and any of the turns they make will lead them to an intersection at the crossroads of someone else. A movie studio boss is dealing with a missing leading man,  an oft-married starlet, an attempt to turn a cowboy into a dramatic actor, fussy producers, nosy gossip columnists, a family life, and Communists. The plot bounces around a lot, and really ends up being less of a focus than each individual scene.

It's fun to watch the old style of Hollywood, from the big swords-and-sandals epic, to the underwater choreography, to the classic western, to the period drama. It's nod to the notion that even as we look back with fondness for that nostalgia, a lot of movies from that time were actually kind of terrible. The movie takes place in 1951, which was the year that classic movies like A Streetcar Named Desire and Strangers On A Train came out - it also was the year of schlock like Bride of the Gorilla and Superman and the Mole Men.

Aside from Josh Brolin and George Clooney, there are a ton of big name celebs who are almost relegated to glorified cameos. Ralph Fiennes, Scarlet Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, and Frances McDormand all have their moments, along with a ton of other faces you'll recognize. Alden Ehrenreich also has a fantastic turn as the cowpoke the studio is trying to clean up and present as a dashing leading man.  All the acting is fine, they clearly had fun with the script and it seems like people are so happy to be part of a Coen Brothers movie that they'll take a smaller part than normal.

Despite a good script and good acting, things just never fully clicked. It's hits all the notes of a typical Coen movie, but never reaches the level of some of their better work. Some of the 'spoof' moments go on too long, and never really conclude with a punchline. I'll stop and watch The Big Lebowski or Fargo or O Brother whenever I come across them, but I don't think this will have the same lasting impact on me. That's not to say it's a bad movie, but for my lofty Coen standards, it falls short.

 

 

On the [Celluloid Hero] scale, "Hail, Caesar!" gets a 6 out of 10.

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