The best Coen Bros. movie in a long while, but that's not saying much.

Rating: 5/10 (15 July 2016)

Hail, Ceasar! is the best movie the Coens have strung together in a long time, but despite all its star power and Hollywood setting, it's still not stellar. The Coens tend to have many more misses than hits (hint, the misses are their pompous movies) but I was genuinely delighted in watching Hail, Ceasar! for parts. It's a light comedy with a few clever moments, sets, and a plot, like Eddie Mannix's watch, that keeps tick-tick-ticking along.
Venerated actors Josh Brolin, Tilda Swinton, and Ralph Fiennes are all here, it's great to see Patrick Fischler still weirding it up. Even Scarlett Johansson, who is *not* a great actress, delivers a solid performance as a loud, bossy chain smoker. Maybe she's playing herself or something, but future archivists of the boring will point to this film and say, "Here! Finally! The proof that she wasn't *just* a curvy woman with big lips!"
Also present is the gross, unfunny, weird "comedian" Jonah Hill. He has about 90 seconds of screen time and he says about three lines.
Blink.
A standout performance is Alden Ehrenreich. I've never seen him in anything before, but it's obvious he's a great actor. I was surprised with Channing Tatum as well. I always thought of him as being a meathead, but he's not GI Joe anymore. George Clooney is also back doing what he does best: playing an idiot. It comes so naturally to him! I also like that he gets slapped in the face towards the end. I had to TiVo that one.
Is the film without flaw? No, no, no. Michael Gamdon (of all people) narrates the movie in intervals, like the cowboy character from The Big Lebowski. Although I love Gamdon, his entire narration was unnecessary. Showy, even. Maybe the Coens included it for the sake of rounding out their list of "motifs" (eg., plots revolving around stolen money, an "unstoppable evil," casting the same stable of actors, pretentious narration, etc) but the narration ripped me out of the moment. I found it patronizing, even.
Additionally, I didn't like the entire element revolving around Jesus Christ. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Jesus-freak: I just don't like making fun of faiths. At the film's start there's a roundtable discussion with a group of Christian priests and a single rabbi. Every character at the table, apart from Brolin's character, is a cliché. Additionally, the rabbi is the only sensible one there. The priests all act like (dumb) mystics.
Christ's golden locks, multiple confessional scenes with bored priests, and the Crucifixion (featuring a a hapless extra strung up on the cross) are all depicted. Nothing too offensive, really, I guess... all tongue in cheek, all in good fun (I guess...) It just annoys me how Christ is the only religious figurehead that you can comfortably poke fun at nowadays. I think the Coens are showing ignorance by making fun of Christ, unfortunately.