Interesting, Just Not Up to Coen Brothers Caliber

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2016)

This movie has a great ensemble cast, but it is a shame that some of the characters that have great potential are not followed throughout the entirety of the film. We tend to stick to a few key characters, and it is a shame we have strong actors like Scarlett Johansson who do not receive a lot of screen time even though they make up the ensemble cast.
As this was advertised as a comedy it would have been nice to see more humor in the movie, though even though there are a few key moments that are funny, all of these moments are hilarious. A lot of these moments happen to be focused around a character named Hobie who is an action-star-turned-speaking-actor, and his interaction with Ralph Fiennes proves to be comedic gold. Also, pay attention for a segment with the premiere of a movie Hobie stars in called "Lazy Ol' Moon." It makes older movies look like caricatures.
What holds the film together is that while it is made up of an ensemble cast, there are only a few stories to follow, so it is difficult to get lost in these stories. Some of the stories are more enticing than the others, however, but you will find them to be intertwined so it all makes sense.
The direction of this movie still shows the Coen brothers are strong directors. The movie looks brilliant, the art direction makes it very believable that we are experiencing old Hollywood, and there are extremely well-choreographed and well-executed sequences. This is a good Coen brothers films, but it is not that high on the list compared to the rest of their canon.
3.0/4.0