Movie of the Week: Hail Caesar

[jacey]

It's the 1950s. Hollywood superstar Baird Whitlock (George Clooney at his bewildered best) is kidnapped in the middle of filming a blockbuster movie about a Roman centurion who finds God. It's up to studio fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) to find him while juggling smaller dramas happening on other movie sets at Capitol Pictures. Brolin is the heart of this movie but there are excellent performances from the aforementioned Clooney, and from Ralph Fiennes as camp director Laurence Laurentz. I'm not usually fond of Fiennes but he has a superbly light touch with comedy.  Alden Ehrenreich, playing contract singing-cowboy actor Hobie Doyle, whose normal repertoire consists of 'Howdy', is delightful when dropped into a movie part that's way beyond him. There are subplots involving Scarlett Johansson as an Esther Williams style swimming star, Tilda Swinton playing a set of rival gossip columnist twins, and Channing Tatum in an all-male song-and-dance set-piece that could be straight out of a Gene Kelly movie.

No slapstick, but lots of smiles. This is, after all, a Coen Brothers film which sends up Hollywood, the fifties, and itself at the same time. Highly recommended.