Ail, Caesar

Rating: 6/10 (22 March 2016)

If you 1) actually remember Hollywood movies during the late forties/early fifties or 2) are such a movie buff that you have read extensively about the period and/or have watched dozens of the movies churned out in that time period via TV, film clubs, DVD etc, then chances are you will watch this with a warm glow of faux nostalgia. If, on the other hand you're a member of the Academic-pseud axis and feel that movies are obligated to be 'meaningful' 'trope' filled, 'teachable', etc then you will be doomed to disappointment. Perhaps a major problem is that the Coens themselves are not quite old enough to remember the period at first hand and are thus attempting to replicate a period using secondary source material for building blocks. Like early Woody Allen this is a film of 'moments' rather than a cohesive offering but in my case enough of them worked to give me pleasure.