Rent Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Thumbs Neutral - Hail, Caesar! review by MD

I could not decide whether to give this film the thumbs up or thumbs down its title suggested, hence my own review title. The central idea of focusing on a big Hollywood "fixer" around which to build a movie that is both a homage to Hollywood's past and a critical spoof of some of its more famous productions seemed reasonable enough, but what resulted was a very mixed bag.

The script was far too variable, sometimes witty and enlightening, sometimes plain daft, and a stupid plot about communists in the system just never clicked, but individual performances and scenes were pretty good. Josh Brolin appeared as if out of nowhere to give a solid performance in the lead role, and Alden Ehrenreich looks a real find - it's damn difficult to give a convincing portrayal of bad acting, but he did it with charm and aplomb.

Some individual set pieces, such as the sailors in the bar dance routine were clever and entertaining, and it gave you a bit of an insight into how Hollywood worked in its "heyday", so all in all it was worth watching, even if not one of the Coen brothers more memorable efforts.

Enjoyable - Hail, Caesar! review by PT

Okay this is not the greatest offering from the coen brothers, but I enjoyed it anyway. The storyline that runs through the film is the kidnap of actor Baird Whitlock , Clooney , who is very funny as this dim witted actor.

This loose storyline is used to look at the Hollywood of a bygone age. There are some great cameos by a number of stars. Ralph Fiennes is great as Lawrence Lawrence (the second name pronounced differently) a posh English director. Scarlett Johansson lights up the screen as DeeAnna Moran, definitely supposed to be Esther Williams, indeed the water sequence is reminiscent of Million Dollar Mermaid. She is brilliant as the innocent star in front of the cameras and a diva off. Film buffs might be interested to know though that the adoption plan for Moran's baby in the film is based on Loretta Young though, not Williams.

Also great performances from Swinton, Channing and Ehrenreich. I'm sure fans of the so called golden age will know who these actors are impersonating in an over the top , fun way.

All in all, enjoyable.

We came, we saw, we fell flat on our self-indulgent faces - Hail, Caesar! review by AS

The Coens are not the geniuses they're often made out to be. 'Hail Caesar!' writing and direction is totally inept. The actors do their best with a pitiful script but can't save this shambles. There are several plot lines, all of them flimsy, some of them ridiculous, none of them going anywhere. They call this a comedy - there isn't a single funny moment or gag. Not just the Coens' worst movie but a contender for worst movie of all time.

> [Less Than] Divine Comedy - Hail, Caesar! review by AM

Set in the same fictional world as ‘Barton Fink’ (1991), ’Hail, Caesar!’ Is an amiable amble through the studio backlot, taking in the artificial worlds of each production, and the hopefully hilarious foibles of the Hollywood residents. Marketed as a laugh out loud comedy and with a cast stuffed with famous talented actors, the truth is somewhat different. Mind you, Coen comedy is a particular beast.

The film stages several set pieces in celebration of golden age Hollywood - a water spectacular with Scarlett Johannsen’s knocked up mermaid, a rollicking tap number featuring a closeted gay Communist dancer and a Roy Rogers Western. These sequences succeed on their own terms as spectacle, but they aren’t satirised or made comedic in any way and disrupt the film’s tempo. The showstoppers elbow aside the plot which then has to be delivered with straight-faced efficiency. The two funniest sequences show studio fixer Eddie Mannix seeking the approval of a panel of religious leaders for the studio’s Biblical epic ‘Hail, Caesar!’ and getting back what sounds suspiciously like internet reviewer snark. Then there’s debonair director Lawrence Laurenz struggling to mould Obie Doyle’s rodeo drawl into the dry muttering of drawing room farce. The latter was the centre piece of the trailers, but while they work on their own, they don’t build into a climax. Plus reading a description it comes over potentially much funnier than it actually is.

A gradual change in the brothers’ filmmaking may be to blame. Since ‘Fargo’, the Coens have developed an aesthetic based on space, stillness and eloquent silence, bracketed by moments of fierce action. This flowered in particular on ‘No Country For Old Men’. Contrast this with the omni-present and detailed soundtrack and whip tight editing of ‘Barton Fink’. The characters in ‘Barton Fink’ are intense and explosive like Warner Brothers cartoons, bouncing off the walls and hurtling into canyons. Lacking the nervous intensity of that film, ‘Hail Caesar!’ also lacks proper zingers, there are no lines that explode a laugh. Whitlock swapping Hollywood gossip with a communist’s lecture on dialectic should be hilarious, but the lines don’t land. The Coens seem reluctant to get their hands stuck into the dirty business of mining for laughs.

Another problem is that Mannix is really a dramatic character in a comedy story world. Calm and hard-boiled for most of the time, urbane and pleasant when he needs to be, Mannix is the still, silent hub around which the wheel of Capitol Pictures rotates. A comic lead is usually the most flawed and un-self aware person in the whole film: a walking catastrophe struggling uncomprehendingly against the forces of nature that trip him time and time again. Instead, Mannix is often just an observer of events, never really risking anything of his own to solve them. This breaking of the screenwriting convention that your main character must resolve the action seems to be a result of another Coen tradition: using characters as a greek chorus to observe human folly, whether that’s tragic or farcical. In Fargo, Marge Gundersson and her husband discuss police work before bed. Tommy Lee Jones’ Sherriff is usually a few steps behind the action in ‘No Country For Old Men’, shaking his head and pondering approaching mortality and the temporary insanity of greed that drives the characters. It’s the wrong approach for a knockabout comedy or screwball farce. There’s still a base line of quality filmmaking to be enjoyed here, but don’t expect to be rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.  

Hugely enjoyable - great acting - Hail, Caesar! review by CD

Don't be discouraged by some of the less than positive reviews. I have seen almost all the Coen Bros films and I rate this one highly. If you enjoy a nostalgic Hollywood theme with great acting from Brolin and Clooney in particular, then you should relish this.

I felt the pacing of the whole film was great and the communist interlude was a fun side plot which I felt worked well, and gave Clooney further chance to show what a great comic actor he is. Brolin's fixer character is really memorable - his speaking style reminds me a bit of Nick Nolte at times.

The locale is interesting, lovely views of the California coast and some great characters floating in and out. Overall fun for a relaxing weekend.

Hollywood tatt - Hail, Caesar! review by CP Customer

Did not like movie, if it wasn't George Cloony I was watching I would have switched it off within first 20 mins, but as it was George I watches for about 40 mins.. Then sadly turned it off as it was not for me.. A silly move some may have the patience & humor to sit through it. But I was bored & found it not a good watch, disappointing :-(

A so-so, patchy Coen Brothers movie about making movies - Hail, Caesar! review by PV

Film makers love making films about film makers. Maybe they think their lives are fascinating? Or just want to share in-jokes? Or get revenge against Hollywood enemies? Or just don't have the imagination to think outside of the Hollywood bubble (like writers always writing about writers)? Whichever is true (maybe they all are!), the results of this navel-gazing can be patchy, as they are here.

Probably best looked at a series of scenes and vignettes rather than a whole, there are certainly some funny moments and lines here - with unexpected turns and plot twists. And really some fantastic (and this expensive) sets which allows some wicked lampooning of 1950s movies, especially epics like Spartacus and those religious epics of the day. The film used and hammy acting is spot on.

An improbable plot about writers taking revenge against those who ripped them off will be funny and a wish fulfilment of many writers watching, I am sure.

Plenty of stars in this one, hamming it up - and some of the 1950s setting in a movie studio is spot-on too.

All in all, watchable but not nearly as funny as it thinks it is!

A footnote in the Coen Brothers collection really. 3 stars. Just.