The new Coen Brothers film Hail, Caesar! has a lot going on. There are scenes involving musical numbers, high-society comedies, Westerns, theological debates and Tilda Swinton playing ferocious gossip-hungry twins. In the brothers' catalogue, it probably fits somewhere between The Hudsucker Proxy and Burn After Reading – which may make you run a mile, or leap to buy a ticket at once.
But to keep you paying attention during the film, we've assembled a list of Coens trademarks for you to play Coens Bingo. See how many you can spot:
1. Alliterative / ridiculous names
Ralph Fiennes' Laurence Laurentz joins the storied ranks of Coens characters with pleasantly alliterative names. Think Amy Archer, Bernie Bernbaum, Rex Rexroth, Delmar O'Donnell and Gaear Grimsrud. But we'll accept any generally ridiculous name. The brothers excel in stupid, fun-to-say monikers, like Heinz the Baron Kraus Von Espy, Barton Fink, Wheezy Joe or Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum) here.
2. Kidnappings
Here, it's George Clooney, as self-regarding actor Baird Whitlock, but there have been kidnappings in Coens films ever since Blood Simple – most famously in Fargo, The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona (bonus points there for kidnapping actual children). It's easier to list the Coens films without a kidnapping – and even those generally have someone trapped somewhere against their will.
What to Read Next
3. George Clooney as a 'gasbaggy fathead'
The Coens take a childlike glee in ignoring George Clooney's sex appeal and cool. They recently described his roles in O Brother Where Art Thou, Intolerable Cruelty and Hail, Caesar! as "gasbaggy fatheads" and it's hard to argue with that. To his credit, Clooney throws himself into each and every humiliation they can muster. They also have a thing about his teeth: he polishes them in this film on camera, and gets endless whitening treatment in Intolerable Cruelty.
4. An angry fat man, shouting
This was a classic Coens trademark for many years, but it's less obvious in Hail, Caesar! because Hollywood is so light on fat people. Still, think back and you'll remember Miller's Crossing's Johnny Caspar, The Big Lebowski's Walter Sobchak, or, well, any of John Goodman's other furious characters from O Brother to Barton Fink.
5. An important hat
The classic Important Coen Hat is in Miller's Crossing, of course, but hat-wearing men are often sinister figures in Coens films, lurking in shadows and spelling trouble – like the kidnappers in this film, and both Tilda Swinton's ferocious gossip columnists. Think Inside Llewyn Davis' cowboy, or The Man Who Wasn't There, or the hotel fire scene in Barton Fink.
6. Questions about God, destiny and the meaning of life
All of which the brothers will obstinately refuse to answer. But it's been a real theme of their later films, leading to the dangling threads of No Country For Old Men, A Serious Man and now Hail, Caesar!, which features the funniest theological debate you'll see on screen this year.
7. Lots of shots of shoes
Maybe it's a fondness for low angles, something they share with regular cinematographer Roger Deakins, but there are a lot of significant shots of shoes in Coens films. Think of all those rushing feet in The Hudsucker Proxy. Look out for dancing and sandalled feat in Hail Caesar!
