Hollywood Fixer

Rating: 7/10 (5 February 2016)

A Coen Brothers film? I'm in. A Coen Brothers film with the always fascinating setting of 1950's Hollywood? I'll be there opening night. Hail, Caesar! tells the story of a Hollywood Fixer, named Eddie Mannix (sort of based on the real life Eddie Mannix), who deals with covering up several studio and celebrity troubles on a day to day basis in order to keep the public knowledge to a minimum. Out of the 6 or so Coen Brothers films I've seen, this isn't their best. But I can acknowledge that some of their previous films have significantly grown on me over time, like Fargo. But I also can't help but think this film turned out to be a pretty big disappointment.
Josh Brolin plays Mannix, and for awhile, the film fixed me into thinking it was one of the best films of the year, just like Mannix would do in all sorts of situations, because for the first hour or so, I was completely hooked. I loved how the Coens chose to represent each of the huge genres of the 1950's, particularly the western and the musical. I had never heard of Alden Ehrenreich before this film, and to me, his performance as Hobie Doyle was the overwhelming highlight of this film. There is a particular scene in which his character is making a transition from Westerns to straight dramas and his director, played by Ralph Fiennes, is arguing with him about articulating his dialogue. That scene made me laugh more than most straight comedies do.
Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson also have notable but brief performances and both with equally visually gorgeous looking choreographed scenes. Really, the entire cast is perfect. More surprisingly, for the first hour I loved every scene even if nothing had melded together has a fluid film yet. But that's the glaring issue with Hail, Caesar!, the film by no means works as one cohesive story. The trailers, posters, and all the marketing sold it as an offbeat comedy/crime/mystery film, but the actual crime doesn't carry the weight it needed to. Once you realize why exactly George Clooney's character was kidnapped from completing his film, it makes you shrug your shoulders and think "well, that was a waste."
I do however think the good outweighs the bad. There's so much to like about every single one of the performances and the first hour is Coen Brothers at their best, but the second half drops off significantly, and disappointingly so. Also, don't expect Jonah Hill to play a prominent role in the film like the marketing tells you, he's in one scene and has 4 lines at most. Other than that, Hail, Caesar! was a fun time at the theater for the most part, even if the second half feels so convoluted, uneven, and uninspired.
+Witty dialogue is still there
+Perfect cast
+Watch out for Ehrenreich in the future, the man can act
+Choreography and feel of the genre films are straight out of the 50's
-Second half drops off
-Doesn't really work as one cohesive film
7.1/10