A love-letter to 50s Hollywood

Rating: 8/10 (15 April 2020)

This movie is a beautiful and sarcastic homage to 1950s Hollywood.
However, it still very much a farce, Coen Bros. style. In the same vein as Big Lebowski, the Hudsucker Proxy, or Burn after Reading this film is blatantly about style and visuals more than substance. And of course the movie acknowledge it itself!
There not a lot left to discuss. The story is the weakest element and used more as an excuse to jump from one (scene) film to the other. The style of 50s movie making, is replicated and made fun of. Deconstructed if you will, but not in an accusatory way, but with respect and with, of course, always a quirky twist. I cannot help to think that there is some kind of a meta joke about spending all this time and effort for these brilliant scenes that have no narrative justification, like the sailors dance, or the Would That It Were So Simple scene. They are well-made moments. And they are really funny.
The movie is beautiful, and the humour is very good. The music is cool. It is a love-letter to 1950s and for that it work very well. The farcical and ridiculous elements work because they are made with affection. The movie is not mocking its subject, nor the religious faith, nor communism. It is using them to tell jokes. And that is why this movie is so good.
My only negative is that it could be more focused, and cleaner on the narrative side of things. Again it does not take away from the rest of the movie. But when you compare them to prior film the Coen bros have done, it feels emptier. The movie is great, I get it the 50s had all the genres: naïve westerns, dancing sailors, swimming sirens, sword-and-sandal epics etc... But nothing really happens in this movie. (Expect maybe Channing Tatum defects to the Soviets but he is not a major character). So you are left wanting more.
It came out very closely to two movies having very similar themes and at least settings : Trumbo and Café Society. I believe that watching these three movies you will get the complete idea of the 1950s in Hollywood. And as it happens they all lack something the other has. Trumbo has the true story and actual behind the scenes walk-through, CS has the drama and plastique and Hail Caesar has the spectacle and humour (throw in LA Confidential and you'll also have the thrilling action).