Hail, Caesar: Et Tu, Coen?

For those unfamiliar with the style of the Coen Brothers movies may be taken a little bit aback by Hail, Caesar.  The Coens are a very specific type of entertainment. They're infamous for beginning their writing process by just sitting down and writing the script.  No pre-planning.  No outlining. No multiple drafts... just writing. Almost no one in the industry can get away with this, but, somehow, they can. This process has led to some of the greatest films of our time (Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis).  These are all very different films.  Some are slapstick-y, some are very violent and slow, some rely on humorous verbal jousting, yet all carry with it that Coen brothers feel. Other films they've helmed that are far outside the comedic scale are No Country For Old Men and True Grit, and while these films are in no way funny, they still retain that Coen essence. Finally, their best film in my opinion, The Big Lebowski is not just their funniest film, but one of the funniest films ever made. But, it's very clearly a Coen movie. So, there is a bit of a taste that needs to be developed for them. I've yet to meet someone who loves The Big Lebowski after only seeing it one time.  It's an acquired taste, but once you realize its brilliance, will stick with you forever.  Hail, Caesar, while it isn't their best film, still has that magical Coen spirit.

The film resembles their more subtle and quirky films such as Burn After Reading and Intolerable Cruelty.  It's loaded with characters and actors and multiple story lines that are almost farcical.  The over-arching storyline, however, involves a 1950s Hollywood fixer, Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) getting word that the star of the studio's biggest budget picture, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) has been kidnapped. This all happens while he's trying to clean up the messes of several of the studio's other pictures including: a pregnant starlet (Scarlett Johannson), a cowboy turned serious actor (Alden Ehrenreich) and the director unable to handle the fact that he can't act (Ralph Fiennes), twin reporters about to break the Whitlock disappearance to the media (both played by Tilda Swinton), and a pretty-boy actor in a musical number (Channing Tatum). Everything plays out very strangely and uniquely in perfect Coen fashion.

Everyone in their respective roles are, of course, perfectly cast.  They all appear just briefly, serve their purpose and get out.  Really, the only actor coursing through all of the stories is Brolin, an to some extent, Clooney.  But, it's a really fun movie IF you're a fan of Coen fare. If you're simply looking for a goofy, by the numbers, Hollywood comedy, you may be slightly disappointed. It begins a little slowly, but it builds nicely and ties everything together perfectly. The Coens have successfully done it again and have really yet to have a terrible movie. Sure, most people aren't the biggest fan of, say, The Ladykillers, but even then, a bad Coen film is still better than 90% of the comedy that comes out every year.  Thankfully, this time, they've got a gem.

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