‘Hail Caesar’ written and directed by the always interesting, extremely talented (Ethan and Joel) takes us back to the brothers do it in a way that will have you laughing out of your seats. At least I was. This is one clever, funny, engaging film. The Coen Bros have their own unique way of showing the absurdity in any situation and they certainly don’t let us down with their newest outing.
In the days of old in a place called Hollywood, you’d find a studio shooting several different films at the same time on their various sound stages. One stage, there’d be a singing cowboy sitting on his horse (who he’s obviously in love with) while on another, they’re would have a bunch of dancing/singing sailors, right next door to a large pool of water, filled with beautiful synchronized swimmers and a mermaid or two.
Of course there was always some big budget religious epic filled with evil Roman soldiers, slaves and ending with Jesus on the cross being shot.
When ‘Hail Caesar’ opens, we meet studio chief Eddie Mannix (the wonderful Josh Brolin) a man that goes to confession every 25 hours, lies to his wife about quitting smoking which he considers a big time sin and spends his days and nights putting out fires, be it rescuing a starlet from a very risque photo session or locating his missing star, Brad Whitlock, (George Cooney) who’s been kidnapped by communists.
If that’s not stressful enough, Mannix has to take orders from his money man in New York who decides that their singing cowboy star, Hobie Doyle (the very funny, Alden Ehrenreich) should be the romantic lead in a very high society comedy.This happens to be one of the funniest scenes in the film and a really bad idea, since Hobie’s talents extend to twirling a rope, singing and basically not speaking. When director Laurence Laurentz (the terrific Ralph Fiennes) tries to get Doyle to shed his cowboy twang and speak like a proper gentlemen I was laughing so hard tears were rolling down my face.
But that’s not the only funny scene. The film is filled with them including, one featuring Scarlett Johansson as an aquatic musical star DeeAnna Moran (think Esther Williams) who’s pregnant, not married and starting to show in her skin tight mermaid outfit followed by Mannix meeting with a group of clergymen trying to get their okay on his film about Jesus.
Having said all this, the one person that absolutely steals the film is Channing Tatum as a sailor who sings and tap dances in a brilliant a homage to the late great Gene Kelly, who I know would be proud. Last but definitely not least is the wonderful, Tilda Swinton (who I swear is an alien) She plays twin gossip columnists out to dig up dirt on the actors even when there isn’t any.
‘Hail Caesar! is Coen Bros at their best and it is a must see. For that reason I gave this film, which opens in theatres, Friday February 5 bagels out of 6. Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my thoughts and I’d love to know what you think.
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