Hail, Caesar - directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Feinnes, Tilda Swinton, Alden Ehrenreich, Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill, Alison Pill, Fisher Stevens, Heather Goldenhersh, Clancy Brown, Jeremy Davis, Michael Gambon, Max Baker, Christopher Lambert, Robert Trebor, David Krumholtz, Robert Picardo, Dolph Lungdren
Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen
Music Score by: Carter Burwell
Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Edited by: Joel & Ethan Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)
Running Time: 106 minutes
Rated: PG - Language, very mild
The Coen Brothers....
At their best you get cinematic treats like "Fargo", "Barton Fink", "No Country For Old Men", "The Big Lebowski" and "Raising Arizona".
There is something of the latter two in the trailers for their new film "Hail, Caesar!" with maybe a little "Barton Fink" too.
This one- like Fink- is set in the movie industry of yesteryear - in this case 1951.
I love movies about the film industry and in particular ones made by the Coen's.
Even some of their non-industry set films tend to have a strong connection if not in terms of being plotted about or around people involved then influenced heavily by film history.
Refer to the marvelous Jennifer Jason Leigh performance in "The Hudsucker Proxy" - all fast talking, old school Hollywood broad-like.
My hope with "Hail, Caesar!" was that this would be the sort of goofy fun that on form Coen's provide.
While it falls short of the high bar set by the likes of Arizona, Fink and Lebowski it delivers plenty of the setups, visual and dialogue gags and wild twists that I had hoped it would.
Josh Brolin plays the straight man at the centre and does a great job anchoring the film.
As Capitol studio head Eddie Mannix Brolin plays a man who is a 24 hour a day manager.
We see him out late at night rescuing a starlet from a photographer in breach of her image exclusivity contract.
'A French Postcard Situation' it is described as!
Scaring off the shutterbug, providing a workable cover story and bribing cops all without breaking a sweat Eddie is all over the role.
He goes home exactly once during the movie - every other moment is at the studio or out executing business in the service of it.
He is followed around by a slew of people including identical twin writers played by the great Tilda Swinton, a constant flow of directors, producers and writers and of course his secretary (Heather Goldenshersh who could almost be Audrey Tatou from "Amelie")
Trouble comes when the leading man on the studio's new biblical epic 'Hail, Caesar!' is kidnapped and a ransom note for $100,000 sent to Eddue.
One of the kidnappers is played by Seinfeld star Wayne Knight - one of many great casting choices in this film.
Dolph Lungdren has a cameo and Christopher Lambert plays a German film director.
Clancy Brown ("Shawshank Redemption"), David Krumholtz ("Serenity") and Robert Picardo ("The Howling") are just a few of the other interesting casting choices.
For me the highlight is Scarlett Johansson as beautiful, manipulative and ditzy DeeAnna Moran - star of hit movies of the Busby Berkeley ilk - elaborately choreographed water based musicals.
We first see her performing as a mermaid in one such picture then angrily departing the pool to have what she describes as her 'fish ass' removed.
Her voice and delivery is spot on and every word she uttered made me smile.
DeeAnna's is yet another of several plot strands that are set to give Eddie a particularly trying and busy day.
He is also dealing with star director Lawrence Lawrentz (Ralph Feinnes) as he tries to get a decent performance out of late replacement actor Hobie Doyle (Ehrenreich)- star of cheesy cowboy musicals with names like "O, Lazy Moon"!
A standout scene that while funny in its own right is merely the setup for a later payoff punchline features the two trying to reign in Hobie's drawl enough to deliver the line 'Would that it twer so simple'.
Feinnes is at his Ealing Comedy best here. He is hugely underrated as a comedic actor but after great work in "In Bruges" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" he adds this film to the list of movies in which he is out and out hilarious.
It should be noted that this scene works because Ehrenreich is also very, very good. In fact the young actor is superb generally in this film playing a bad actor - not easy.
Also amazingly well used is Channing Tatum who is funny even with very little dialogue.
To say more about his character and indeed about the plot generally would be to ruin many of the surprises that this film holds.
The trailers have in fact already spoiled quite enough.
The Coen's movies of late have suffered in my opinion from weak endings and while the abrupt vagueness of the climaxes of both "A Serious Man" and "No Country For Old Men" are interesting they still made me feel underwhelmed after such great build ups.
"Hail, Caesar!" too suffers but not as much.
The climax still feels rushed and there are several strands that while not unresolved are unsatisfyingly cleaned up off camera with throwaway lines from other characters.
I could have done with a lot more Feinnes, Johansson, Tatum and Tilda Swinton as all three are missed greatly whenever they are not on screen.
The plot feels like it is going to bring all of the strands together but ultimately they exist to complete the character arc of Eddie.
While satisfying I couldn't shake the feeling that a much more effective movie lurks within the script.
With an extra 15 minutes of running time some of the characters and story elements could have breathed a little more and provided for a neater conclusion.
As it stands this is well worth seeing. It's a trip to see actors of this calibre having such clear fun performing the material and even if the laughs are not as numerous as Lebowski, Arizona and even Hudsucker I enjoyed every second.
RATING: 75/ 100
CONCLUSION: A lesser Coen flick which still means that it is well worth seeing. Goofy fun with some standout comedic work from all of the major players- specifically Johansson, Clooney, Tatum and Feinnes.
Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen
Music Score by: Carter Burwell
Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Edited by: Joel & Ethan Coen (as Roderick Jaynes)
Running Time: 106 minutes
Rated: PG - Language, very mild
The Coen Brothers....
At their best you get cinematic treats like "Fargo", "Barton Fink", "No Country For Old Men", "The Big Lebowski" and "Raising Arizona".
There is something of the latter two in the trailers for their new film "Hail, Caesar!" with maybe a little "Barton Fink" too.
This one- like Fink- is set in the movie industry of yesteryear - in this case 1951.
I love movies about the film industry and in particular ones made by the Coen's.
Even some of their non-industry set films tend to have a strong connection if not in terms of being plotted about or around people involved then influenced heavily by film history.
Refer to the marvelous Jennifer Jason Leigh performance in "The Hudsucker Proxy" - all fast talking, old school Hollywood broad-like.
My hope with "Hail, Caesar!" was that this would be the sort of goofy fun that on form Coen's provide.
While it falls short of the high bar set by the likes of Arizona, Fink and Lebowski it delivers plenty of the setups, visual and dialogue gags and wild twists that I had hoped it would.
 |
| Tilda Swinton and Josh Brolin |
As Capitol studio head Eddie Mannix Brolin plays a man who is a 24 hour a day manager.
We see him out late at night rescuing a starlet from a photographer in breach of her image exclusivity contract.
'A French Postcard Situation' it is described as!
Scaring off the shutterbug, providing a workable cover story and bribing cops all without breaking a sweat Eddie is all over the role.
He goes home exactly once during the movie - every other moment is at the studio or out executing business in the service of it.
He is followed around by a slew of people including identical twin writers played by the great Tilda Swinton, a constant flow of directors, producers and writers and of course his secretary (Heather Goldenshersh who could almost be Audrey Tatou from "Amelie")
Trouble comes when the leading man on the studio's new biblical epic 'Hail, Caesar!' is kidnapped and a ransom note for $100,000 sent to Eddue.
One of the kidnappers is played by Seinfeld star Wayne Knight - one of many great casting choices in this film.
Dolph Lungdren has a cameo and Christopher Lambert plays a German film director.
Clancy Brown ("Shawshank Redemption"), David Krumholtz ("Serenity") and Robert Picardo ("The Howling") are just a few of the other interesting casting choices.
 |
| Clooney as mega-star Baird Whitlock |
We first see her performing as a mermaid in one such picture then angrily departing the pool to have what she describes as her 'fish ass' removed.
Her voice and delivery is spot on and every word she uttered made me smile.
DeeAnna's is yet another of several plot strands that are set to give Eddie a particularly trying and busy day.
He is also dealing with star director Lawrence Lawrentz (Ralph Feinnes) as he tries to get a decent performance out of late replacement actor Hobie Doyle (Ehrenreich)- star of cheesy cowboy musicals with names like "O, Lazy Moon"!
A standout scene that while funny in its own right is merely the setup for a later payoff punchline features the two trying to reign in Hobie's drawl enough to deliver the line 'Would that it twer so simple'.
Feinnes is at his Ealing Comedy best here. He is hugely underrated as a comedic actor but after great work in "In Bruges" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" he adds this film to the list of movies in which he is out and out hilarious.
It should be noted that this scene works because Ehrenreich is also very, very good. In fact the young actor is superb generally in this film playing a bad actor - not easy.
Also amazingly well used is Channing Tatum who is funny even with very little dialogue.
To say more about his character and indeed about the plot generally would be to ruin many of the surprises that this film holds.
The trailers have in fact already spoiled quite enough.
 |
| Scarlett Johansson - an hilarious knockout |
"Hail, Caesar!" too suffers but not as much.
The climax still feels rushed and there are several strands that while not unresolved are unsatisfyingly cleaned up off camera with throwaway lines from other characters.
I could have done with a lot more Feinnes, Johansson, Tatum and Tilda Swinton as all three are missed greatly whenever they are not on screen.
The plot feels like it is going to bring all of the strands together but ultimately they exist to complete the character arc of Eddie.
While satisfying I couldn't shake the feeling that a much more effective movie lurks within the script.
With an extra 15 minutes of running time some of the characters and story elements could have breathed a little more and provided for a neater conclusion.
As it stands this is well worth seeing. It's a trip to see actors of this calibre having such clear fun performing the material and even if the laughs are not as numerous as Lebowski, Arizona and even Hudsucker I enjoyed every second.
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