HAIL, COEN BROTHERS
Epic spoof cures winter blues
You can tell how serious the Coen brothers are by the timing of their films’ releases. A Serious Man, with two Oscar nominations, came out in October; No Country for Old Men (best picture winner) in November. Unloosing this one in the cinematic dog days of February suggests its awards hopes are thin, but it still makes for a delightful if forgettable mid-winter treat.
The star of the show is Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix, a “fixer” for the fictional Capitol Studios in Hollywood. There was a real Mannix who worked for MGM in the 1950s, an altogether more nefarious character. Brolin’s Mannix takes confession daily; his worst sin is he’s been lying to his wife about having quit smoking.
But he soon has bigger fires to put out. Capitol is about to wrap production on the biblical epic Hail, Caesar: A Tale of the Christ. They just have to film some “divine presence” shots and get star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) to deliver his big speech. But Baird is drugged during a banquet scene — talk about your last supper! — and kidnapped by a cabal of Communist writers that, sorry to report, does not include Dalton Trumbo.
This central story is buttressed by subplots, all of them funny. Alden Ehrenreich plays Hobie Doyle, a western star who’s been shoehorned into a drawing-room drama, in spite of being unable to act when not opposite or atop a horse. He can’t even walk into a room properly: He moseys.
Then there’s Scarlett Johansson as an Esther Williams type who swims like a mermaid but talks like a Bronx stevedore. Mannix has to find her a husband before her pregnancy causes a scandal. Channing Tatum plays Burt Gurney, doing a fine Gene Kelly impersonation in a sailor suit and tap shoes. And Tilda Swinton does double duty as twin sisters, rival gossip columnists and haber-dashing hat-wearers Thora and Thessaly Thacker.
All of this keeps Mannix and the movie chugging along merrily, while allowing writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen to indulge in a variety of sketch comedy. The best of these is probably the ecumenical council Mannix convenes to discuss whether Hail, Caesar! will pass muster with various faiths. The conversation devolves into a shouting match, with one religious leader quoting the Torah’s description of God as “He Is Who Is” while another explodes: “Who Isn’t ‘Who Is’?
There’s also a wonderful bit with Frances McDormand (Joel’s wife) as film editor C.C. Calhoun, almost killed by her editing machine. The scene is masterfully edited.
Many of these sidelines could be excised without harming the main plot one bit, but they are great fun to behold. The Coens clearly love movies, and fellow movie lovers can sink into this one, be it to revel in the mid-century design, enjoy the silliness, or play guess-which-real-life-star-Clooney-is-meantto-be. He does a fantastic job as a bad actor who suddenly gets very good in one scene, masterfully blurring the lines between craft and caricature. You need brains to play this dumb.
Brolin is excellent as always, his turn as Mannix bolstered by relative unknown Heather Goldenhersh as secretary Natalie.
Mannix’s story wraps up rather suddenly, without the kind of lingering thoughtfulness that often follows you after a Coens picture. Given how much of the film is set on a sprawling backlot, I was surprised not to see more scenes of astronauts and guys in gorilla suits lunching together at the commissary. But you can’t have everything. And Hail, Caesar! already has a great deal.