Movie Review—Hail, Caesar!

Hail, Caesar!

by Peter J. O'Connell

Hail, Caesar! Released: Feb. 2016. Runtime: 106 mins. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some suggestive content and smoking.

Hail, Caesar! Is a satirical salute to Hollywood in its Golden Age, circa 1950. The film, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, follows Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), “Head of Physical Production at Capitol Pictures,” through two days in his job as a “fixer,” keeping production going despite various problems; cleaning up or covering up messes in which stars are involved; and fending off gossip columnists (think Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons), such as Thora and Thessaly, the Thacker twins (both played by Tilda Swinton).

The film hilariously skewers various genres of the era—but not before showing how genuinely impressive they could be. For example, DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), whose out-of-wedlock child Eddie is trying to find a cover for, is starring in a Busby Berkeley-style aquatic spectacle (think Esther Williams). The spectacle is actually almost gasp-inducing until DeeAnna throws a very nasty hissy fit at its peak (literally). And Hobie Doyle (Arden Ehrenreich) is an appealing singing cowboy (think Gene Autry/Audie Murphy) in Westerns until a producer insists that he also star in an elegant drawing-room film. That movie's fussy director (Ralph Fiennes) is unable to get Hobie to say the line “Would it were so simple” correctly. (Ehrenreich's performance as Hobie is a sheer delight.) Bert Gurney (Channing Tatum) stars in a movie (think Gene Kelly in On the Town) featuring dancing sailors. More and more sailors join the terrifically choreographed sequence, which becomes more and more homoerotic—and laugh-out-loud funny—as it proceeds. 

Eddie's main problem, however, involves Baird Whitlock (George Clooney, delightfully dim), who is starring (think Robert Taylor or Richard Burton or Charlton Heston) in a sword-and-sandal saga (think Quo Vadis or The Robe or Ben-Hur). As a Roman soldier, Baird delivers a very moving speech at the foot of the Cross—moving, that is, until he blows his lines.

Eddie's problem regarding Baird, however, is not blown lines, but the fact that the star gets kidnapped, and a ransom is demanded by a mysterious group known as “The Future.” The attempt to get Baird released provides a kind of overarching film noir sendup, which is also seen in other parts of the movie; for example, surveillance scenes reminiscent of Vertigo; domestic scenes reminiscent of The Big Heat; California coastline views and houses reminiscent of those in many noirish works. A scene with Eddie crony Joseph Silverman (Jonah Hill), DeeAnna and Eddie uses absolutely classic film noir composition and lighting. Along the way, Hail, Caesar! also manages to skewer some left-wing screenwriters, including one with a Stalin mustache, and Soviet-type films.

Throughout the movie, Eddie is attempting to decide whether he should continue in the movie industry or accept an offer from another company to work on a nuclear project. The way that the events of the two days play out leads him to make his choice. 

In Hail, Caesar! the Coen brothers, those mischievous moviemakers from Minnesota and their estimable cast and crew, provide—brilliantly--a hurrah for Hollywood combined with a Bronx cheer-- or, should we say, a Bemidji jeer?

“Footnotes” to the film: (1) There was a real Eddie Mannix, but he apparently was actually more of a thug than the character played by Josh Brolin. (2) Even in its Golden Age, Hollywood produced at least two films, both dark melodramas, that punctured its pretensions: The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and The Big Knife (1955). (3) The Coen brothers also took aim at Hollywood 25 years ago in the comic-apocalyptic Barton Fink (1991), which was clearly influenced by Nathanael West's classic, not-so-comic novel The Day of the Locust (1939). West's novel was itself made into a film in 1975.