'Hail, Caesar!' is sharp and amusing but a minor work by the Coen brothers
In 鈥淗ail, Caesar!鈥� the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan, have come up with聽another 鈥媜ne of their brainy, jokey head-scratchers (as opposed to one of their apocalyptic creepfests like 鈥淣o Country For Old Men鈥� or 鈥淏arton Fink鈥�). Set in 1950s Hollywood, it centers on Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a real-life 鈥渇ixer鈥� for MGM 鈥� called here Capital Pictures 鈥� whose primary job is keeping the studio鈥檚 high-priced stars from publicly shaming themselves.聽
The Coens have an affinity for聽the waning days of 鈥婬ollywood鈥檚 Golden Age, if only because that era allows them to wax nostalgic while at the same time subverting the nostalgia. The film involves the kidnapping of a famous, fatuous movie star, played by George Clooney, by a team of Tinseltown Communists. (Clooney, uniformed in Roman legion garb for a biblical costume epic, has a lot of fun with this dimwit.) Along the way the Coens work in satirical tributes of spangly musical numbers 脿 la Esther Williams (Scarlett Johansson) and Gene Kelly (Channing Tatum), though both stars go by different names here. The film is聽often鈥嬄爏harp and amusing, but it鈥檚 a doodle in the Coen canon. Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for some suggestive content and smoking.)
