Movie Review: Hail Caesar!
Hail, Caesar! is the latest effort from the famous Cohen brothers, behind some of my favorite films including: Raising Arizona and True Grit. Hail Caesar! is not their best film, but certainly not their worst, and it definitely has it’s moments.
The movie centers around a Hollywood ‘fixer’ (played by Josh Brolin) in the 1950s who spends the day working to keep the studio’s stars in line, one of which, Baird Whitlock (played by George Clooney) is kidnapped in the middle of the filming of their biggest picture.
It is hard to tell you much more without giving too much away, but there are a lot of laughs to be had. But there is also a lot of dragging. All of the scenes with Clooney (who was a bit underused) and Alden Ehrenreich (in a breakout performance as the young and ignorant Hobie Doyle) are fantastic. I which the whole movie had centered around their stories. Unfortunately when they are not on camera the film looses its charm for me. Josh Brolin is a fine actor, but he is not all that funny or likeable and can’t carry the movie.
At the end of the day – I enjoyed Hail Caesar!, just not as much as I’d hoped.
Grade: B-