Hail, Caesar!

Hail Caesar!: The New York Times reviewer said it best, “Hail, Caesar!” is one of those diversions that they turn out in between masterworks and duds." They are, of course, the Coen brothers, Ethan and Joel, famous for movies such as Fargo, and No Country for Old Men which won Oscars, and for movies such as, The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona that didn't but have achieved cult status. Hail, Caesar! probably doesn't fit into either of these categories but neither is it a dud. It is a fun, entertaining film, especially if you are a fan of old Hollywood movies like those of Gene Kelly and Esther Williams. As an example of the level of humor in this movie, there is an entire scene devoted to a Western star (Alden Ehrenreich) trying to pronounce his director's name correctly. The director nicely played by Ralph Fiennes is called, Laurence Laurentz. The main character of Hail, Caesar! is Eddie Mannix played by Josh Brolin, a studio fixer, loosely based on a real person of the same name. His job is to ride herd on the studio's stars and make sure they finish their films and stay out of the gossip columns. In Hail, Caesar!, there are two competing identical-twin gossip columnists both played by Tilda Swinton. The studio's stars include a Esther Williams-like actress (Scarlett Johansson) who is about to become an unwed mother, a Gene Kelly-like actor (Channing Tatum) with communist sympathies, and the actor starring in the movie within a movie, Hail, Caesar! (George Clooney) who has a drinking problem. One of the charming things about this movie is that the Coen brothers choreographed and shot scenes for these stars that include tap dancing and synchronized swimming. Since this is a Coen brothers movie, there is also a scene where various priests and a rabbi are discussing the divinity of Jesus, and another scene with a long discussion of dialectical materialism. There are lots of entertaining cameos by Jonah Hill, Robert Picardo, David Krumholtz, Alison Pill, Fisher Stevens, and even Christopher Lambert! This isn't high art so don't expect any Oscar Nominations for Hail, Caesar! but it's worth seeing.