If you look at the Coen brother’s directing career they have a remarkably consistent record. Sure, there have been a few duds, particularly their ill advised The Ladykillers remake and Burn After Reading, but otherwise they have a record to stand up against any current filmmakers. It was surprising then that the advanced word on this was of variable critical reviews and particularly hostile audience reactions.
Seeing the film, I understand why this divides audiences. You really need to be a bit of an old movie geek to fully enjoy it, or otherwise you might be a bit baffled by the disparate plot strands on offer. Set perfectly in 1951, the main plot focuses on the kidnapping of movie star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) by a mysterious group calling themselves The Future. Studio fixer and executive Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) has to work at recovering Whitlock whilst also dealing with other problems surrounding his stars and directors.
The pleasure to be had from Hail Caesar is not from the main narrative but from the peripheral scenes and stories. The recreation of typical films from that particular era, an Esther Williams style swimming-musical starring Scarlett Johanson’s Deeana Moran, a big budget biblical movie (Hail Caesar, The Story of the Christ) with Whitlock in the lead role, a musical starring Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum) as a sailor on shore leave and a production line western starring the up and coming Hobie Doyle (the brilliant Alden Ehrenreich).
Those scenes are perfectly judged and they provide two of the three great scenes in the movie. British director Laurence Laurentz (the wonderful Palph Fiennes) is lacking a leading man for his latest stylish drama and has Hobie Doyle foisted on him. Totally miscast, Doyle struggles with his dialogue and Laurentz becomes increasingly irritated with him and a homo erotic song and dance number in a bar led by Gurney. The former is a very funny scene, only surpassed by one featuring a group of religious leaders of different faiths giving their opinion on the script of Hail Caesar.
Less convincing is the story arc for Gurney and that characters final scene which comes across like a bad anti communist film of the same era, though I am willing to accept that might have been deliberate on the Coens’ behalf.
Sharing the same name (Capitol Pictures) as the studio featured in Barton Fink, this is really for those who love that film and others like the Hudsucker Proxy rather than more obviously crowd pleasing efforts like The Big Lebowski and Fargo.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10