Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with some thoughts on the newest flick from the Brothers Coen.
I have to preface this review with a little caveat: I've only seen Hail, Caesar! once.
That's an important thing to note because there's never been one Coen Bros movie that I feel the same about on second viewing as I did the first. Never. And I'm saying this as someone who was a fan of The Big Lebowski on viewing one. I vividly remember the press screening. I was 17 and I drove Harry and his dad to the screening. It was packed and no exaggeration... we were the only three people in the theater laughing at absurd comedy on display. It was a pivotal screening experience for me, actually. It was the first time I registered a film going over the audience's head. They just flat out didn't understand it. In the few years after I had similar experiences with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Office Space.
For many people The Big Lebowski was a grower and I'm not saying I was above that. I started out loving the movie, but I've only loved it more as the years have passed. It grew for me, too. The only difference is where I started on it.
The same can be said of almost every Coens movie. The only one that comes to mind that went the other way is Intolerable Cruelty. To be fair, I haven't revisited The Ladykillers recently, but I gave Cruelty a shot a couple years back and even though I don't hate it I felt like it was the rare Coens film that missed the mark it was trying to hit. Love or hate A Serious Man, it's an assured film that nails exactly what they were going for.
So, it's important to note that my first impression of Hail, Caesar is just that. For 99% of other filmmakers I assume my first impressions will remain pretty close to my permanent opinion, but I just can't with these guys. Even their goofy movies are so layered that it's impossible to take in everything in one go. At least it is for me.
That's a lot of rambling, but the cut and dry of it is that Hail, Caesar is a lot of fun. I'd call it lesser Coen Bros, but that's fainting with damn praise. There's no voice out there like Joel and Ethan Coen's and it's always a delight when we get to hear that voice. Their newest is no different.
It's a bit niche, but I'm squarely in that niche. I love Old Hollywood stories. I listen to Karina Longworth's You Must Remember This podcast with enthusiasm. I am just flat out fascinated by that era of filmmaking and the power struggles that went on between the studio heads and the stars.
If you've seen the trailer you know what kind of movie this is. A studio fixer whose usual work entails arranging romances, breaking up bad star pairings and making sure the real news stays out of the celebrity rags is asked to go above and beyond when one of Capitol Pictures' biggest stars is kidnapped all the while trying to keep the hundred other spinning plates he has up in the air.
The setting of the movie allows the Coens to populate it with big actors playing variations on Hollywood royalty. You got Scarlett Johansson playing Esther Williams and Channing Tatum doing Gene Kelly and Tilda Swinton in the dual role of twin sisters, each one a Hedda Hopper-like gossip columnist angling for a scoop.
The cast is marvelous all around (there's nearly a Highlander reunion, but Clancy Brown and Christopher Lambert never share the screen), but the reason I'm hesitant to call this a Coen Bros movie for the ages is because of Brolin's lead character, the studio fixer Eddie Mannix.
Mannix is the straight guy in a world of chaos. I get why they needed him to be that way. The whole point is that this guy is the only one who keeps his shit together and makes sure this studio runs, but for me that's like making The Big Lebowski and having Jeff Bridges play The Dude straight. Mannix is the focus of the movie, but every time we cut away from him the movie turns from good to delightful.
Mannix has a couple moments where he slips into the groove the rest of the movie is setting (he has a very funny scene where he gets Clooney's character back on the up and up, for instance), but other than that he's constantly the straight man trying to solve a mystery that he never once feels like he can't figure out.
That might be because the mystery itself isn't the priority of the movie. Who kidnapped George Clooney's Baird Whitlock? We find that out about 10 minutes after he's snatched, but then the question becomes who inside the studio helped? Instead of making it a Clue-like guessing game of which zany character was in on it, the Coens chose instead to make this more of a day in the life of a Fixer and that day just happens to involve a kidnapping.
Again, it's not a bad choice and they milk it for all it's worth, but I could help but feel like there was a little something missing to help me sink my teeth into this one like I wanted to.
While Clooney is getting all the publicity focus, the real standout in this movie is Tetro's Alden Ehrenreich who plays Hobie Doyle, a western star who the studio is trying to shoehorn into prestige pictures. He's a few different cowboy actors rolled into one, but the lion's share of Hobie's influences is for sure John Wayne (with a generous dash of Gene Autry thrown in for good measure).
Ehrenreich gets just about as much screen time as Clooney and both men really go for the absurdity. The only difference is Ehrenreich has a little more to play with. He's earnest, young and really trying his best, but he's just a cowpoke, not a refined actor, which gets him into trouble when he's asked to star in a modern love story.
Tatum's tap-dancing, tight sailor pants'd musical number is fantastic. It actually makes me think it's still possible for one of these olden days style musicals overflowing with charm and over the top choreography to show up in cinemas again.
I adore most of this movie, but felt a little distanced from the whole if that makes any sense. I never felt along for the ride, which could totally be my problem and not the movie's. Like all their work, I expect my own personal needle will be moved upon second viewing and I hope like most of their work that needle will only keep moving up.
As it stands now, and I know I picked some nits in this review, but I'd call the movie a solid B+ on the overall scale of things. There's no doubt in my mind that this is exactly the film Joel and Ethan intended to make and they nailed what they set out to do. It's a very cinephile friendly film, so I have no trouble recommending it to you good folks. Was it everything I wanted and more? Ah, would that it'were so simple...
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter
