Hail, Caesar!

Score:  ***1/2 out of ***** (B)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum, et. al.
Running time:  106 minutes
Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  The Coen brothers' latest film is a Hollywood-based comedy with an impressive roster of stars.  However, it's also a deceptive one; the main focus is not what you (or at least I) thought and screen time is limited for many stars.  I didn't like the change of focus but it is quite funny and both Clooney and new guy Ehrenreich are great.  This will be just right for some, and not at all for others.


Set in 1951, Eddie Mannix (Brolin) is head of production at a Hollywood studio.  While the pay is good and the industry is exciting, his star performers give him plenty of headaches.  The studio's main film in production is the title, starring one of the biggest actors in the world, Baird Whitlock (Clooney).  In the middle of one day of shooting, Whitlock goes missing, but Mannix brushes it off; he has more fires to put out.  One of them is DeeAnna Moran (Johansson), whose surprise pregnancy Mannix is desperate to keep secret.  Another of his stars, Hobie Doyle (Ehrenreich), a singing Western actor, gets thrown into a prestigious drama directed by the esteemed Laurence Laurentz (Fiennes) who is maddened by Doyle's lack of nuance.  As Mannix deals with all this and more, he receives a ransom note: a group calling itself "the Future" demands $100,000 for the safe return of his star Whitlock.

The trouble keeps piling on, as Mannix is confronted by competing twin reporters (Swinton) alleging a Whitlock scandal.  It all makes a recent offer from Lockheed Corporation sound very tempting to Mannix, who could leave all the drama and frustration behind.  But he is determined to keep it all together - one way or another.

As appropriate for a movie about Hollywood, Hail, Caesar! boasts a star-studded cast.  Josh Brolin plays the lead, Mannix, a very competent and calm but weary executive.  He plays the straight man in a cast of colorful characters and does it well; he balances Mannix by keeping him as the anchor of the story but allowing his co-stars to take the spotlight.  George Clooney's Whitlock is the primary "actor" character.  While I almost always enjoy Clooney, he is particularly good here as the confident but bumbling star.  He displays great, nuanced physical comedy and carries one of the film's best scenes in which he builds a serious mood and concludes with hilarity.  Alden Ehrenreich, one of the few faces you won't recognize, plays talented star Hobie Doyle.  Despite his unfamiliarity, he shines in the role and is maybe the funniest part of the whole movie.  Almost the reverse of Whitlock, Doyle is deceptively simple yet good-hearted and able to see what others overlook.  Ralph Fiennes has a pretty small role as director Laurentz (make sure you pronounce it right!) but is noteworthy for how good - and funny - he is.  Honestly, the rest of the big-name cast has small roles not worth going into any detail.  In fact, there are some supporting roles that are more noteworthy.

A mostly light hearted comedy, Hail, Caesar! has both some very good, and some very frustrating, elements in my view.  First, I want to note that the trailer and commercials had me fooled: I thought that the focus of the story was the kidnapping of (and attempt to rescue) Clooney's Whitlock.  That is a significant part of the film, but the main idea is instead a "day in the life" of a Hollywood producer (Brolin's Mannix).  This is not a completely terrible thing, but it took me a long time to adjust to it (I'm probably just slow to catch on).  So, be prepared!  Within that framework, there are some very fun moments.  Clooney and Ehrenreich's characters, as mentioned, are highlights.  Much of the humor is based on chuckles here and there except those two consistently amusing roles.  Ehrenreich's earnest, patient first attempt at a scene on Laurentz's film is particularly hilarious.  Perhaps even better is a meeting of religious leaders convened by Mannix to determine whether his big new film is acceptable to a variety of faiths.  The barbs thrown around are excellent.  The Coen brothers also take the time to show a few "clips" of fake films from Johansson and Tatum's characters, which are neat though not as entertaining as their co-stars' humor.

While there are plenty of individually entertaining elements here, Hail, Caesar! is overall a frustratingly scattershot film.  This could partly be due to my slowness in orienting to its main idea, but the "day in the life" idea just has little coherence or consistency.  It's often silly, only to abruptly turn to a seemingly much more serious scene... which turns out not to have much depth or consequence.  I guess the Coens just wanted to show a broad view of this world that intrigued them, but I think it would have been vastly improved by eliminating Johansson and Tatum's characters and focusing more on Clooney and Ehrenreich.  I was more surprised when the credits rolled here than I have been in a long time.  I thought, "wait... that's it?"

***

Hail, Caesar! is a fun film to watch, and even more interesting to review thanks to its array of strengths and weaknesses.  This is certainly a film where some people could rate it quite a bit higher, and others quite a bit lower, depending on tastes; I think a "B" is about right.  I want to emphasize the focus (or you could argue, lack of focus) of the film, though, so you know what to expect if you see it.  There's some great humor, including several truly hilarious scenes, and Clooney and Ehrenreich are really fun.  It's just a shame that it's bogged down by superfluous (and not nearly as interesting) elements, along with the odd tonal whiplash.  The appeal of the strengths, as I see them, may be enough to outweigh the weaknesses - if so, give it a try.  Otherwise, a Netflix/rental later could make this a nice change of pace entertainment for a night.





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