OK - just not too much substance

Rating: 6/10 (2 January 2018)

The premise for 'Hail, Caesar!' sounds more "meta" than it is - a film studio in the 1950's making a Roman/Jesus epic called 'Hail Caesar' and starring Whitlock (Clooney), the biggest Hollywood star. The film works as a tribute to classic movie-making, with Brolin playing Mannix, the head of "Capitol Studios", trying to keep his sometime wayward stars in check.
The film nails the choreography and massive scale the soundstages had, especially with Johansson's mermaid scene and Tatum's tap-dancing sailor scene. Surprise - he can also sing! Probably the funniest moment is new guy Doyle (Ehrenreich)'s cowboy scene and stunts. Unfortunately, there's no real plot other than Clooney getting kidnapped by kind Communists - doesn't really go anywhere.
Fiennes, Johansson, Hill, Tatum & McDormand all don't have enough screen time. The score is good and there's some jokes, although most of them are more like a sly wink to the audience - definitely not the Coen's best work! The score's good and Clooney and Tatum both ham it up, but I definitely felt underwhelmed afterwards.