This movie was sheer joy for me

Rating: 9/10 (12 February 2016)

The last time I was as unexpectedly elated was years ago with the first Alien film, a much different film. This film is a light-hearted homage to the old studio system which was far less innocent than depicted here. But there are no sordid casting couches at this studio and no one is hoping for a part, they're already the stars.
And that allows the Coen brothers to have some good clean fun with the period and the kind of characters that inhabited the era. Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich and Scarlett Johansson all do a great job channeling the wise-cracking Hollywood sorts common to the 40's and 50's. Tilda Swinton and George Clooney do much the same; I particularly enjoyed Tilda's take on a gossip columnist. Clooney's part seemed a little overdrawn but appropriate.
The Coens reproduce several of the kinds of scenes typical of the period and it's a delight to see them done by actors like Channing Tatum. His dance number is impeccable and as someone who really disliked that sort of thing back when I was a kid, I was amazed at how I felt seeing it now. It was as if these people were showing that era that we could do it too and I could have stood up and clapped it was so good.