By Max Luebbers ’16, Entertainment Editor
Given the Coen Brother’s rich history of well-received, off-beat crime comedies, it’s surprising that Hail, Caesar! failed to turn many heads upon release. A revered and experienced set of directors, an all-star cast, beautiful cinematography, and an interesting period piece should have made it one of the hottest releases of the year. Instead it fizzled out early, while failing to exceed the sum of its parts. If you are fan of earlier Coen brother films, however, Hail, Caesar! is worth a try. Don’t expect it to live up to classics like, Raising Arizona (my personal favorite), The Big Lebowski, or Fargo, but Hail, Caesar! can deliver some absurd situations and a few good laughs.
Don’t expect Hail! To deliver the most comprehensible script. Like other Coen Brother’s films before it, Hail, Caesar! prides itself on odd-ball situational comedy over scripted jokes, and relies on small interconnected vignettes to tell its story. For most of the movie you’ll be left wondering what’s going on, yet still find yourself entertained. But where The Big Lebowski and Raising Arizona succeeded in wrapping up key plot points efficiently, Hail, Caesar! hides its key moments so well, it’s often difficult to see the connections between the disparate characters. Take for instance the film’s opening scene, a brilliant send-up of old noir-film that nevertheless holds no importance to the rest of this plot. For scenes like these, it’s important to think of the movie as a collection of these short stories, each one a play on various aspects of the movie-industry. With that being said many of the gags will only appeal to film-aficionados and the majority of the audience will be left silent and confused. Because of this rather niche appeal, Hail, Caesar! lacks the communal energy needed by the audience to make it a classic.
George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlet Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, and Channing Tatum make up the cast and seem to genuinely have fun with the script. You’ll be surprised by the odd twists and turns and the celebrity cameos throughout the duration of the film, especially look forward to Tatum’s entry halfway through the 106 minute runtime. If you’re looking to see any of these actors for a majority of the movie though, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Clooney, Tatum, and Johansson are only on screen for a handful of scenes, and Brolin makes an unlikely lead as cinema mogul, Mr. Mannix, in a “day in his life” setup. Each actor does well in their own right, but don’t go into Hail, Caesar! expecting knockout performances or a stellar lead role.
Cinematography, led by Roger Deakins (of Skyfall), is easily the strongest part of Hail, Caesar!. The Coen Brothers, have always been masters in comedic framing and it’s no different here. Well -timed cuts and close-ups prove to be just as important to the delivery of a joke as the joke itself. Even when Hail, Caesar! isn’t trying to be funny it delivers some fantastic shots, worthy of standing by themselves. Visually the entire movie holds together very well with Deakins’s signature dramatic shadows contrasted with brilliant whites, and soft golds, reds, and greens, that both pay homage to classic Hollywood while not seeming out of date.
While Hail, Caesar! is able to deliver some laughs based on its concept alone, don’t expect to see it on any end-of-year lists. Poor reviews are ranking it among the worst Coen Brothers flicks. While to me that seems a little harsh I can’t help but the think that the film’s final form was a missed opportunity on several fronts, and did not live up to the sum of its parts. The confusing and piece-meal script is misleading, and the films subject matter is too niche-market to draw any kind of substantial attention. While Hail, Caesar! had good intentions, it appears from the outside as a movie made for those in the movie industry. The zany roles, inside jokes, and odd-ball skits, come off more as grab bagging of ideas from the cutting room floor over any kind of cohesive work.
Image Source: http://filmforum.org/film/hail-caesar-coen-brothers-film
