Hail, Caesar! (2016) Film Review

The Coen Brothers are a directing duo who've often had a mixed track-record with their directed productions, ranging from the high praises for Fargo and The Big Lebowski to their mixed responses to The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty. Add their dual screenwriting for both their directed and non-directed roles and it's easy to see why they have a great love from critics and cinephiles alike, so it's all the more better to see them have a go at looking at the classic Hollywood production process. Add an all-star cast and a great set of trailers which celebrate film history, film present and film comedy, and we surely have a film which – while may not overly captivate general audiences – would at least have critics and film fanatics salivating...right? 

Hollywood, 1951, and the state of the film production system is far different to what we have today. The studios owned the rights to the image of actors and actresses under their contract; television was starting to be seen as a threat against the "dying" medium and the  fears for a war between the US and Russia over their different political viewpoints has lead to plenty of fear. And also Eddie Manix (Josh Brolin) - the head of Capitol Productions and a fixer-upper of sorts – is trying to quit smoking for his wife's sake but to no avail while contemplating leaving the studio for a high-level job with the Lockheed Corporation. But with all this going on, it doesn't help that, during the making of an expensive and very prestigious iteration of the crucifixion story entitled Hail, Caesar! its adored lead actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) gets drugged by one of the film's extras and kidnapped by a secret community who call themselves 'The Future'. While having to also balance out a pregnancy drama for single actress DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) and a casting debacle for acclaimed director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes), who's given the cowboy adventurer Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) for his period drama despite the actor's difficulty to being more than inept, Manix must meet the demands of the organisation without word spreading to the public or causing delays to the production of his film. Meanwhile, the Future begin to spread their gospel to the credulous actor in roman garbs they have captured... 

One may assume thanks to the film's trailers that this movie in actuality was based around a studio-head employing the help of his actors and directors to retrieve the missing Whitlock from his captors, and the aforementioned plot synopsis would hint to such elements playing a part in the scheme, but actuality it's a film of two halves mixed together and only occasionally complimenting one another in the main storyline. The Johansson story has barely two scenes before being wrapped off-screen; the humorous antics of Ralph Fiennes is sadly limited to only the first act of the film before being brushed aside; Ehrenreich may get a good proportion of focus with his stories, and is the only one bar Manix to get actively involved with the situation, but even then it's less of a search and more of a coincidence – a factor he only knew to look into after he was randomly informed of the scenario for little reason. Even the Channing Tatum angle is limited, with his all-singing all-dancing act being merely a backdrop for a scene that's part of the larger picture. And it'd help if these aspects were more of a part to the main story because in actuality they are just so much more interesting than the main story, whose only highlights include a couple of great performances and the standard levels of strong direction from the brothers Coen.

At the head of all this drama sits Josh Brolin, and it's safe to say that no one is better suited to this role than he is. He plays the role completely seriously and fits the character description perfectly, right down to his mannerisms. He may in the end play very little of a part in the conspiracy aside from giving the enemy what they want, but his overall control of the whole thing is very admirable and, should the film be remembered come award season 2017, could be a nominee in the making. George Clooney in the Kirk Douglas-esque role as one would expect, garnering a good number of easy laughs as he comes to gripes with his Roman armour but remaining strong when hamming it up; Ehrenreich is a surprisingly watchable actor despite his character's incredibly strong accent, and as one of the big players does get the better batch of storylines present – although as previously stated he does get forced into the main storyline; Fiennes is as delightful as always, and a great shame to see him in such a limited role; Jonah Hill has all but a single scene of screen-time but at least makes his presence known; Johansson seems there solely for name recognition but does her best with what she has; Tilda Swinton as two journalists of different columns makes for some easy twin-bashing gags; Tatum is marvellous during his sailor sequence but barely gets much out outside of that; and Michael Gambon as the narrator brings all the gravitas you were expecting from an actor as beloved as him. And that's not even bringing up the large array of supporting characters, ranging from the members of the Future to the religious spokespeople Manix hears out to about the faithfulness of the Hail, Caesar! Production. All are fine, with the religious group discussion perhaps being a highlight of the picture, but are barely noteworthy in their own right. 
The Coen Brothers remain a strong duo when it comes to their direction. Teamed together with 13-time Oscar nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins and with a variety of aspect ratios akin to 2014's equally-charming The Grand Budapest Hotel, the film's biggest compliment is that it looks great. Sets are well-designed; costumes expertly recreated and a true showing of the love the production team has for this period of cinema; and even the cheaper aspects such as a submarine incursion has some level of love going for it. So for its plot pratfalls, it's hard to deny that some love at least went into the overall production and recreational side of it. 

Hail, Caesar! is a film that looks charming and has plenty to go for it, but ultimately fails just for how it's story ends up being. In the wings lies a strong story in which an ensemble cast of actors and crewmembers team up to save one of their own from a conspiracy group – and this is a story I imagine the Coen Brothers would kill at – but instead sits a disjointed tale of a studio head who has far too much to deal with in such a small timeframe (around 27 hours) and with an easy twist as to who the mystery group behind the kidnapping is. Add limited laughs and some forced story elements, and you have a film which is worth a look solely for the Hollywood aspects as opposed to the main draw. 5/10.