"Would that it were so simple." That one line and its problematic pronunciation in Hail, Caesar! provides one of the funniest moments in the glittering career of the Coen Brothers. Other majestic moments adorn their latest effort, a visually vibrant foray into 1950s Hollywood, but it struggles to consistently hold your interest despite a stellar cast spearheaded by George Clooney, Josh Brolin and Channing Tatum.
Brolin deploys his gnarled look to fine effect as film studio 'fixer' Eddie Mannix, whose job it is to keep the stars happy and out of trouble. Luckily for him, there was no Twitter in those times. Instead, there's the small matter of Clooney's film star Baird Whitlock being kidnapped just as his epic movie Hail, Caesar! nears completion, in addition to Scarlett Johansson's synchronised swimming actress falling pregnant out of wedlock and Ralph Fiennes' disgruntled director fuming at a hopeless miscasting. Can Mannix solve these problems in time and keep the gossip columnists at bay? Sadly, we're given little reason to care.
The subject matter sounds perfect for the Coens, especially since their classic comedy The Big Lebowski revolved around a multi-layered kidnap plot unravelling in a hysterically madcap manner. Yet Hail, Caesar! feels too disjointed.
It fails to give us sufficient reason to invest in the fates of any of the characters, lacking substance beneath its superficial charm and suffering from an absence of dramatic jeopardy. Amidst the increasing mayhem, we yearn for a protagonist to empathise with and root for, but Mannix is too impenetrable. Without that emotional connection, his salvage mission feels utterly inconsequential.
Despite its flaws, Hail, Caesar! offers fascinating glimpses into the film industry of the time. The aforementioned line-reading issue stems from the problems of the star system, with a hilariously inadequate Western film actor Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) leaving Fiennes' acclaimed helmer Laurence Laurentz beyond exasperation with his inability to deliver the simplest piece of dialogue correctly. The dreaded Production Code and its crazy moral leanings are also mocked to fine effect.
The early 1950s period feel is magnificent, with plenty of luscious spectacle – especially in a series of musical interludes. While Channing Tatum's tapdancing may not have quite the same jawdropping impact as his recent Beyoncé lip-syncing, it's nonetheless a magnificent sight to behold in one stunning sequence.
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Films about filmmaking have a notoriously chequered history. For every The Player, there's a Burn Hollywood Burn knocking around. Hail, Caesar! occasionally threatens to soar, but every funny flourish feels increasingly frivolous. We never delve deep enough into the initially intriguing characters we encounter and feel too disconnected from the story as a result. It's that simple.
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; Screenwriters: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen; Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes; Running time: 106 mins; Certificate: 12A
![Chris Hemsworth Bad Times at the El Royale dance [gif]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/18/41/1539256413-chris-hemsworth-bad-times-el-royale-dance.gif?crop=0.4074074074074074xw:1xh;center,top&resize=360:* "Chris Hemsworth Bad Times at the El Royale dance [gif]")
