Not among the Coen Brothers' best but still quite entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (16 July 2016)

Hollywood, 1950s. Eddie Mannix is Head of Physical Production at Capitol Studios. His life is one of non-stop action: casting issues, production issues, keeping the studios stars in line, ensuring the studio avoids negative publicity, dealing with the press, playing matchmaker to the studios stars, among other things. His current main issue is that one of the studios biggest stars, Baird Whitlock, has been kidnapped by Communist screenwriters. But its all in a day's work for Eddie Mannix.
Quite entertaining...in spells. It's really quite hit-and-miss. The first 30-40 minutes or so, which were mostly background, were great. There was a wonderful sense of lightness and quirkiness about the movie.
However, the plot development wasn't always engaging and was sometimes silly or dull. Worst of all was the main plot, the kidnapping of Baird Whitlock. It seemed implausible and silly from a point and never really got back on track.
On the positive side, the Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) - Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) sub-plot was great: funny, and the casting issues around it seemed quite realistic. Some great moments in other sub-plots too.
At an overall level, what keeps the movie from falling apart is the boundless, infectious energy of Eddie Mannix. Josh Brolin is superb in the role.
The other glue is the Coen Brothers obvious love of cinema and the art of movie making. This movie is a homage to the Hollywood of the 50s and the Coen Brothers spare no effort in recapturing that era.
Good ending which ties the whole story together well. The takeaway message from the movie may be self-serving but it is loving and sincere.