From the directors who brought you Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and The Big Lebowski comes the newest comedy of 2016, Hail, Caesar!, a self-deprecating look at the movie industry in 1950’s Hollywood.
Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the main character in Hail, Caesar! and is surrounded by an all-star cast including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Alden Ehrenreich, and Channing Tatum. Mannix’s job, besides being the head of production at Capitol Pictures, is to keep his stars out of the headlines and — as much as he can prevent it — out of mischief. Each of the other characters mentioned above are involved at Capitol Pictures, but unfortunately, continue to get into trouble.
Things take a turn for the worse when Capitol Picture’s star Baird Whitlock (Clooney) is drugged on the set of Hail, Caesar! and rustled away to a seaside mansion occupied by a nerdy cadre of Communists. Mannix must quickly and quietly come up with $100,000 in ransom money, and he is saved by the assistance of Western movie starlet Hobie Doyle (Ehrenreich). Meanwhile, DeeAnna Moran (Johansson), a synchronized swimming star, reveals that she is pregnant, so Mannix must hastily find her a husband before the story leaks into the press. At every turn, Mannix is also plagued by Thessaly and Thora Thacker, sisters and rival gossip columnists, who threaten to reveal compromising secrets between Whitlock and Laurentz (Fiennes). Meanwhile, The Lockheed Corporation entices Mannix with job offers he almost can’t refuse — but does he want to walk away from all this chaotic Hollywood drama, or does he love it?
The film is hilariously self-aware, with good-natured elbow jabs at the ridiculousness of Hollywood, coupled with humor that is both subtle and obviously delightful. With only a PG-13 rating for language and smoking, it would be a fun family movie for older kids and parents. Overall, critics have loved the movie as well, with Kenneth Turan of the LA Times calling it a “droll tribute to and spoof of Hollywood past amuses from beginning to end with its site specific re-creation of the studio system and the movies that made it famous.”
Local Coronado moviegoer Elliott agrees. “It’s not often that I feel like I really appreciate cinema as an art form on its own merits, but the quirky humor and meta storytelling of the Coen brothers provided an exception to this rule that was right at my level.”
Highly recommend. To see local showtimes, click here.
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Actors: George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, Tilda Swinton
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 h 46 min
