What's it about?
Written & Directed by the Coen Brothers, "Hail, Caesar!" is a comedy set during Hollywood's 'Golden Age' - 1951 to be precise - and follows the trials and tribulations of Eddie Manix - head of production and studio fixer for Capitol Pictures. When the lead in one of the studio's biggest productions is kidnapped by a group calling themselves 'The Future', the curious personalities and practicalities of Hollywood ricochet off one another.
Who would I recognise in it?
Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Erenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
The Coen Brothers march to the beat of their own drum, so it's with no surprise that "Hail, Caesar!" is the sort of film that will require more than one viewing to peel back the intricate layers of wry humour that are laced throughout. Skirting away from some of the strictures of traditional screenwriting structure, the film moves with a loose feel. We see glimpses of disparate productions - all of them elaborately realised - from a stunt-filled cheese-ball western and a synchronised swimming spectacular, to a stuffy melodrama and a tap-dance-tastic sailors-on-leave picture. Indeed, the Coen's love for Hollywood's golden years celebrates with rose-tinted glasses on, while simultaneously playing up the more farcical elements of the time (Francis McDormand's scene as a chain-smoking editor, locked away in a darkened room, proves to be both loving and laugh-inducing)...
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