A subtly brilliant paean and parody of Hollywood's golden age

Rating: 10/10 (4 May 2016)

"Hail, Caesar!" may not be the best Coen Brothers movie ever, but then again, it might just be and even a film that ranks somewhere in the middle of their oeuvre is better than the best films by most writers and directors.
The movie is meticulously detailed and intricately interwoven. It's both a paean to and parody of movies from Hollywood's Golden Age. It's often fascinating and frequently hilarious. Performances and production values are uniformly excellent. It's a very intelligent film, meticulously researched, with humor that ranges from subtle and sophisticated to broad and burlesque.
What it lacks are genuine highs and lows. A movie star is kidnapped, but is never in any real peril. An uneventful car chase ends without a confrontation. At several points, the film or a film within the film builds toward a climatic moment, only to have it deliberately subverted, usually for comic effect. The protagonist's day entails handling a series of disasters, but he handles them almost effortlessly due to his comprehensive understanding of the industry and his absolute authority and the disasters never really spiral out of control or build exponentially, as in some action and comedy films.
It's a film that one could probably watch a dozen times and notice additional nuances with each viewing.