Review of Hail, Caesar! (2016) by Phillip D — 23 Jun 2016

Considering all of the complex issues surrounding post-war Hollywood, the Coen brothers swung at the lowest hanging fruit, choosing to go on an extremely simplistic and idealistic jaunt down memory lane as they engage in some of the most obvious inbred industry self pleasure I have ever seen, taking a whitewashed, sugar coated, insider perspective that will no doubt please the elderly, Caucasian members of the Academy come awards season.

Hail, Caesar! is a movie that, like the last few Coen brothers films, takes no risks and has nothing to say, choosing to briefly embrace a decent stand for only the closing few minutes of the film, a speech that is quickly whisked away by another gag.

However, regardless of the cohesiveness or balls of the film, I must admit that Hail, Caesar! is impeccably put together, showcasing the Coen brother's grasp of period cinematography and picture perfect set pieces.

The acting is equally excellent, with everyone turning in top notch performances, despite the general disconnectedness of everyone's collective contributions and the flightiness of the storyline itself.

Another problem manifests itself here however, with many of our ensemble cast getting left behind in the Coen's ramblings. In fact, nearly every member of this all star cast gets only a moment or two of screen time.

It's a travesty to see Fiennes and Swinton sidelined while Channing Tatum delivers a bamboozling final twist and charge, for some reason. This pretty but flawed nature ultimately defines the film really.

It seems that despite delivering a technically perfect film, the Coen brothers can't seem to put together an engaging story or make good use of their tools on hand. For artsy directors, it is expected that the audience isn't going to buy into the film wholesale.

There will be dissenters and those who just don't get it. As evidenced by the success of the Transformers series in the box office, the majority of the audience doesn't always make the greatest choices.

However, the Coen brothers can't seem to connect to anyone in the audience and haven't been able to do so since O Brother or The Big Lebowski. Their "hits" from the last few years have barely made a dent in popular culture or the box office and their biggest film of the last decade and a half, True Grit, has almost been completely forgotten at this point.

In that respect, despite not being a bad film, Hail, Caesar! is another swing and a miss for the brothers, whose unearned reputation as some of the best directors in Hollywood seems to be finally slipping away.