Review of Hail, Caesar! (2016) by Alice S — 02 Aug 2016

We see a fictionalized day in the life of famed MGM fixer, Eddie Mannix, in a whizbang of an enjoyable ride that gets pretty inscrutable by the end, until you realize (or research online) that the movie is a veiled biblical parable in the vein of the Coen Brothers' other odyssey films: "O Brother, Where Art Thou," "A Serious Man," and "Inside Llewyn Davis." Mannix is God, shepherding his flock away from communist writers, tabloid scandalmongers, and tyrannical directors. The film is a bit oblique in the Coen Brothers way, but it's not without that Golden Age of Hollywood shine.

The cast of Coen vets and novices perform commendably, especially Tilda Swinton as imperious and flinty twin gossip columnists. I wasn't too impressed with Channing Tatum's attempt at classic song-and-dance man, Burt Gurney, a homoerotic send-up of stage and screen hoofer Gene Kelly. Tatum's hip-hop shoulders are too popped and locked instead of broad and back for the tap number. Burt's traitorous flight and the lost briefcase are also strange McGuffins.

Best of all is newly-light sabered Alden Ehrenreich who steals the show as shucksidoodles Hobie Doyle, an oater player picked to portray a well-spoken, debonair gentleman. The scene of persnickety Ralph Fiennes trying to smooth out Hobie's drawl is hilarious and uncomfortable, but Hobie's payoff is suave perfection. Ehrenreich and Veronica Osorio are also just charming as heck on Hobie and Carlotta's arranged date. An unfortunate little factoid I learned is that Ehrenreich's singing voice was dubbed. I is disappoint.