Review: Hail, Caesar!

Set in 50s Hollywood, Josh Brolin plays Eddie Mannix, a studio exec and problem solver who is currently mulling over a career change, as well as going to Confession to unload about his guilt in sneaking in a few cigarettes behind his wife’s back. He’s a workaholic who wants to be more of a family man, but he’s the guy who gets put in charge of solving the studio’s problems. The biggest film currently on the lot is the scene of Mannix’s largest problem, as Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), the dim-witted star of the title religious epic has apparently gotten drunk and gone AWOL. He’s been kinda sorta not really kidnapped by a secret group of Communists, who kinda sorta not really hold him for ransom. Meanwhile, other issues include an attempt by an increasingly impolite British director (Ralph Fiennes) to turn a singing cowboy named Hobie (Alden Ehrenreich) into a genuine actor. It doesn’t go well. Then there’s the Esther Williams-esque musical/dance star DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) who has entered into an out-of-wedlock pregnancy scandal in the making. Tilda Swinton turns up as a pair of twin gossip columnists always creeping up on poor Mannix. Channing Tatum plays the star of a musical who may be more than meets the eye, Clancy Brown plays a gravel-voiced actor in the epic, Christopher Lambert plays a heavily-accented European filmmaker, and Jonah Hill has a small role as the possible key to solving Ms. Moran’s little situation.

I’m far from a fan of the Coen Brothers (“Miller’s Crossing”, “Fargo”). In fact, the only films of theirs so far that I’ve liked have been their debut “Blood Simple.”, the underrated “Intolerable Cruelty”, “The Big Lebowski” (by far their best film to date), and their rock-solid remake of “True Grit”. Well, you can add this 2016 Hollywood-set flick to the list, albeit probably behind the aforementioned films. It’s a bit slight this one, but for film buffs like me, a lot of it is pretty irresistible stuff.

Basically there’s lots of references and allusions to Hollywood-types throughout, in a kind of fantasy where the drunken star of a historical epic (George Clooney, pretty much channelling Charlton Heston) goes on a bender and gets mixed up with the Communist movement. Clooney proves to have quite the aptitude for playing idiots, and Josh Brolin is perfect casting as the brooding, square-jawed movie exec in a bit of a midlife crisis, not to mention a pickle with one of his big stars going AWOL and joining the Reds. He looks and acts like something out of a 40s film noir/detective story, and it actually works. In fact, he’s probably the only one to give a fully-fleshed out characterisation in a film of surrogates, impersonations, and ‘types’. That doesn’t mean he gives the best performance, just that he’s given the biggest and meatiest part and delivers well. Even better for me are the performances by Ralph Fiennes, Alden Ehrenreich, and Clancy Brown. Cast respectively as an exasperated and pompous English drama director and a hayseed Tim Holt meets Hoagy Carmichael, Fiennes and Ehrenreich are an hilarious double-act. As for veteran B-movie actor Brown, he’s clearly doing an impersonation of gravel-voiced character actor Charles McGraw from “Spartacus”, and it’s truly spot-on and very, very funny for those in the know. Channing Tatum is amusingly cast as the star of what is clearly an “On the Town” clone Hollywood musical, and the choreography for his big scene is genuinely funny. The Busby-Berkeley routine involving Scarlett Johnansson’s obvious Esther Williams surrogate is pretty convincing except for the actress’ performance itself, which is false. She talks like a 1920s gangster movie wiseguy character and it’s neither credible nor funny. Yeah, I get it. She’s a cutesy star with the voice of a third-rate George Raft impersonator. So what? Terrible, overdone performance from the frankly overrated star. I wasn’t overly impressed with Tilda Swinton’s obvious Hedda Hopper character, which along with her twin sister was an idea that just didn’t quite come off in execution. I get why the character had to be here, though and they’re probably the most ‘Coen Brothers’ element in the entire film (Probably part of the reason I didn’t much care for them). I did enjoy the cameo by Frances McDormand as a chain-smoking editor though, and Wayne Knight has an hilarious walk-on as an idiot extra in the biblical/Roman epic. There’s also a funny scene where Robert Picardo plays one of several religious dignitaries asked for their approval on the movie script. It’s funny because none of them can agree on what God and Jesus actually are. There’s even a role for C-grade action star Christopher Lambert as a Swedish film director (nearly unrecognisable behind grey hair), in addition to being a mini “Highlander” reunion given that film’s villain Clancy Brown is here (they share no scenes, however).

This doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and I have no idea how Coen Brothers fans will feel about it. I don’t think it’ll hold much interest for those with little knowledge of 50s Hollywood, given it doesn’t have all that much else going on. However, I found it funny and entertaining, if a bit slight. Good performances and plenty for film buffs to chew on kept this one afloat for me.

Rating: B-