Movie: Hail, Caesar

Hail, Caesar!:  Silly brilliance by the Coen Brothers.  Time is the early 1950’s.  Place is Capital Pictures, a mythical Hollywood movie studio.  The film opens with a focus on Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), who is the “Head of Physical Production” for Capital and a “Fixer”.  Everything that happens thereafter flows through Mannix.  This movie works because despite the utter silliness and seeming chaos of the underlying tales, the Mannix character threads through and connects everything.  The story takes place over a few consecutive days and runs the gauntlet of Mannix dealing with twin gossip columnists (Tilda Swinton) to Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), the lead actor in a movie called “Hail, Caesar”, being kidnapped.  Whitlock’s kidnapping is the primary story line, however, there are numerous sub-stories.  For instance, a pregnant but unmarried Ester Williams type actress (Scarlett Johansson) investigates whether she can legally adopt her own child, which leads to a brief and funny appearance by Jonah Hill as an accountant who will make it happen.  Then there’s Channing Tatum as a Gene Kelly type actor with his own unique issues.  The actor who is brilliant throughout the film is Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle, a Singing Cowboy who is asked to do a period drama, which leads us to Ralph Fiennes as the director who must deal with Hobie’s total lack of acting ability, and Frances McDormand as a film editor who has a near fatal accident.  While tumbling through the ruckus of these incidents, the movie returns to Whitlock’s kidnapping and the kidnappers.  This entire 100 minute film is done in a blaze of fun.  The actors project a genuine joy in romping through this parody of various movie stars from the 1950’s.  The film is brilliant and for anyone who enjoys movies, this is a must see.