HAIL, CAESAR! is One of the Funniest Movies of 2016

Rating: 8/10 (25 March 2017)

The Coen brothers bring us back to the golden age of the Hollywood studio system with their 2016 comedy HAIL, CAESAR! On the scale of Coen comedies, I find this one is more entertaining than BURN AFTER READING but never reaches the heights of their (in my opinion) best, THE BIG LEBOWSKI. It's an easy watch with a relatively simple story that relies a bit on the viewer having either nostalgia for 1950s era Hollywood movies or an appreciation for the studio system of decades ago. I fall into the latter category, loving this frenetic voyage back to the 1950s where we're to tag along with studio head Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) to witness a day in his life as he juggles problem after problem. Mannix is an honorable man with boundless loyalty to the studio but the stress has taken its toll on him. As the film begins, he receives an order from the men above him to move famed musical cowboy Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) to the studio's latest period drama, much to the classical director's extreme dismay. Meanwhile the studio's star synchronized swimmer DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) has become pregnant out of wedlock, which could become a PR disaster, and the lead actor (George Clooney) from the studio's biblical epic, the titular HAIL, CAESAR!, has gone missing. Mannix races to solve these problems while fending off twin Hollywood reporters (Tilda Swinton in a dual role) eager to break a story that might damage the studio's delicate reputation.
I found this movie to be indescribably fun. It's got a manic pacing that races you through from start to finish and encourages further viewings to catch jokes you might've missed the first time. It's a bright, colorful adventure through the eyes of the over-worked Mannix who moves from issue to issue without missing a beat. It's full of fast-talkers and oddball characters. If I were to complain about anything, it would be that there's so many interesting scenarios playing out over the course of the movie that we didn't get enough time to thoroughly dig in. The Hobie Doyle issue, where a simple cowpoke finds himself tossed into the stiffest of dramas with an auteur director (played by Ralph Fiennes) who is equally panicked at having to somehow teach his new star how to show some class, has some of the funniest moments in the movie but it's relegated to a secondary plot. I could watch an entire movie on that situation alone. Give Ehrenreich and Fiennes a spin off film documenting the making of that movie-within-a-movie. The primary plot thread, obviously, is the abduction of the studio's biggest star Baird Whitlock from the set of HAIL, CAESAR! Clooney can play aloof with the best of them and he's got a comedic timing that isn't put on display nearly often enough. His Whitlock awakens from his abduction in a gorgeous seaside home surrounded by strange men and, not only rolls with it, he comes to believe in their mysterious cause.
Much of the film's fun comes from the madcap journey behind the scenes of the movie studio system of the 50s. Mannix's business takes him behind the scenes of a massive synchronized swimming sequence (a relic of decades past) and, more interestingly, a Hollywood musical. We get an entire song and dance sequence featuring Channing Tatum as the star of an old Navy musical where he and a team of sailors lament their future lack of dames on the high seas to an upbeat tune. I thought it was interesting to see what sort of stuff went into the choreography and camera blocking. It's fun. Everything about this movie is a blast and it's a shame to see it didn't receive a whole lot of love from audiences. I guess you need to have at least a passing interest in the subject matter to find the entertainment here, otherwise it must come across as a lot of fast-talking gibberish laid over a scatter-brained plot that can't seem to find its focus. I wholeheartedly disagree, as I've found HAIL, CAESAR! to be massively re-watchable and I've yet to find myself bored with it. It has a contagious positive vibe in this love letter to a Golden Age of film. Coen fans should find plenty to appreciate here and I hope more casual fans or less-informed mainstream audiences will give the film a chance and find something to enjoy as well, whether it be the performances, the production, or the sense of humor.