Worth watching?

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2017)

This is my first review here, and I hope to do more. I have noticed a niche that can use more contributions, namely, reviews written by people who love movies, but who are not trying to prove how terribly clever and smart they are. Many years ago one of the major movie critics wrote for a metropolitan newspaper, and he had a funny list of categories for movies, the best one being 'worth watching if you're home sick.' His reviews helped me think about why some deeply flawed movies are worth watching, while some highly praised films are simply, for most of us, pretentious junk. 'Hail, Caesar!' is one of the former. First and foremost, any movie that makes you laugh, laugh a lot, is certainly worth your time. The main criticism I have is that it doesn't hang together well. The skits are related, but there is not enough of a strong narrative thread here to pull you through to the end, to give you that sense of 'wow' that a really good movie gives you. The casting is intriguing, with flashes of brilliance. George Clooney is a smart choice; he gave me much to think about regarding the interaction of skill and charisma in a performance. I was also wondering how Josh Brolin made his character likable. And Scarlett Johansson's first appearance is very amusing, as well as one of the movie's many reminders of the sharp contrast between movie fantasies, and the quotidian of our lives that drives us to seek out that very fantasy.
So, to steal from the above-mentioned reviewer, 'worth watching at home.'