Review of Hail, Caesar! (2016) by Mack_Fraser — 07 Feb 2016

Hail, Caesar! is a film cut from the same cloth as Barton Fink, Inside Llewyn Davis and The Man Who Wasn't There despite what the trailers may be selling you. This is the Coen Brother's in high art film mode although perhaps more subtly than their previous efforts. Hail, Caesar! is a film more concerned with examining structures of belief that people dedicate themselves to (communism, capitalism, religion and cinema/art specifically) and their relative merit or lack thereof than telling a tight, fast-paced story. It's also affords the brothers Coen a chance to play around in the classic Hollywood sandbox to varying degrees of success (the parlour drama 'Merrily We Dance' is the only movie-within-the-movie that completely captures the aesthetic of the time although the rest are still fun). Consequently, the central story, such as it is, is not as strong as in some of their films like True Grit, Fargo or No Country for Old Men, but that is by design - it's a just a framework for what they're really interested in and the more languid pace actually gives it something of that 1950's old Hollywood vibe.

Slight side note, the ad campaign for this movie did it no favours. It was sold as a movie more in the vein of The Big Lebowski or Raising Arizona - still very Coen brothers, but more in the screwball comedy vein which it really isn't. I'm willing to bet that the critical consensus on this film will rise given time as people recalibrate their expectations as to what the film is trying to do.