A kidnapping is at the center of some of the Coen Brothers’ most indelible pictures. From RAISING ARIZONA to FARGO to THE BIG LEBOWSKI, someone goes missing and it’s through this unfortunate victim’s disappearance that characters are revealed. You can now add HAIL, CAESAR! to this list. However, while most of these kidnappings spawn a colorful cast of characters where hilarity and morality often sway from the light to the very dark, HAIL, CAESAR! doesn’t exactly use the taking of the half-wit Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) as the catalyst to propel most of the characters and the story. In fact, it becomes simply just another piece of this collage that the Coens have assembled that is equally both an ode to classic cinema and a biting satire showcasing a facade of what many believe to be what Hollywood is really like.
As studio fixer for Capitol Pictures (a Marvel-esque shared universe nod to the studio in the Coen’s BARTON FINK), Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) struggles with Catholic guilt, a neverending workload, and a smoking habit he’s trying to quit. Nevertheless, none of that is going to stand in his way as he deals with the disappearance of the title character in the studio’s new film, saving actresses from late night photo shoots, securing alibis for actresses with out of wedlock children (Scarlett Johansson), and arranging couples for the gossip columnists (Tilda Swinton in two parts).
The Coen Bros. newest madcap dash through their clever collective mind feels like the most Coeny, Coen film you have seen yet. You have a self-reflective and imperfect main character, an allegory about the hardships of the creative process, conversations about faith and the search to describe “God,” and elements of film noir all heavily dropped right at the onset. And although I would classify myself as a worshipper at their self-aware and sarcastic altar, none of these scenes early on truly connected with me. It was as if HAIL, CAESAR! was playing like a greatest hits collection of the Coens and I was only hearing a brief snippet of the melody without hearing the entire song.
But something happened about halfway in. Everything seemed to make sense even though it didn’t entirely at all. So many of their previous films are connected by a central plot that I was grasping to find and never found with HAIL, CAESAR!. It wasn’t until Alden Ehrenreich was standing in the middle of a Hollywood street adorned in his signature cowboy shirt and hat and swinging his lasso in circles with palm trees behind him and a limo to his right, that I suddenly understood the fantasy that was being painted for me. Sure, we had previously seen Ehrenreich as the glum but lovable Hobie Doyle sing his folky tune during one scene and then later corrected over and over again in an instantly iconic scene opposite Ralph Fiennes’ as the director Laurence Laurentz (“Would that it t’were so simple.”), but it was during this simple moment that the film began to win me over. Although many might complain how random scenes such as this only contribute to the random and disconnected way HAIL, CAESAR! unfolds, I think anyone who sees the film will walk away thinking a star is born from Alden Ehrenreich’s silent but strong performance.
What also shines in the film are two classic film within a film moments expertly choreographed and staged like classic films of the 50s. The jaw-dropping water ballet in the style of Busby Berkely is beautifully filmed by the great Roger Deakins. This is followed later by a romp of a number showcasing Channing Tatum’s dancing abilities (the boy indeed has the MAGIC) along with a crew of sailors getting rowdy in a bar. Fans of classic cinema will find these two scenes an absolute delight, resulting in a grin ear to ear.
How some of the characters evolve or not evolve is one of the biggest things holding this film back from being a great Coen’s film. Mannix is meant to be the nervous, hardworking hero, but we never quite feel the weight of his job or the stress that seems to come with the tasks he’s been given. Not unlike the Coen’s childish and unsuccessful BURN AFTER READING, a large cast of familiar faces populate this world. While some of the known talent elevate their roles to more than just a bit cameo (Frances McDormand is remarkable in a scene that shows her comedic timing while highlighting the sad fact that men called the shots back then – and still mostly do), others feel like an attempt to use their star power to bolster the film (Sorry Miss Johansson).
Amid the not so subtle gay subtext of the sailor routine and the corporate suits running around tinsel town pulling the strings behind the curtain and the cigarettes Brolin’s character hides from his wife, lies a film about rumors and lies. More specifically, it shows what outsiders want Hollywood to be like because it’s what they always suspected. They don’t want the truth per say, they simply want proof to what they believe Hollywood is really like. The Coens have constructed a picture that paranoia driven pundits will no doubt point at and exclaim with complete sincerity, “See! I told you that Hollywood is filled with a bunch of two-timing, no-good, lying communists!” What they’re missing is that the joke is in fact on them. The Coens are smarter than they are and have openly acknowledged this in their sly (albeit, slightly rambling) script. What is the name of the communist group that kidnaps Clooney: The Future. What year is mentioned that a secret contract will be finally revealed to the public after decades of secrecy: 2015. Although the setting is 1950s Hollywood, HAIL, CAESAR! pokes fun at the modern day grand illusion – a world that is as far-fetched and full of twists and turns as the stories that are depicted on screen.
HAIL, CAESAR! is a social satire of the highest order. Through showing a zany world of forced romantic setups, secret child adoptions, and Commie leftist writers (complete with a Soviet submarine, of course), the Coens have fully embraced the cliches and rumors that are often associated with the Hollywood system. Even though it’s a regular issue throughout the film, it’s safe to assume that Mannix lying about not smoking cigarettes to his wife might be the least disingenuous thing that occurs in a film that revels and has fun with the presentation of a false reality.
Overall score: 4 out of 5
HAIL, CAESAR! is now playing in theaters everywhere
