{"id":19493,"date":"2016-03-23T21:04:16","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T11:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=19493"},"modified":"2016-08-23T22:50:25","modified_gmt":"2016-08-23T12:50:25","slug":"hail-caesar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=19493","title":{"rendered":"Hail, Caesar!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hailcaesarposter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Directors: \u00a0<\/strong>Joel and Ethan Coen
\nWriters: \u00a0<\/strong>Joel and Ethan Coen
\nCast: \u00a0<\/strong>George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ralph Fiennes, Aiden Ehrenreich<\/p>\n

\u00a0T<\/span>he Hollywood Golden Age is in full swing and studio fixer Eddie Mannix is in a jam.\u00a0 His lead actor Baird Whitlock has disappeared off the set of their latest big budget motion picture.\u00a0 A ransom note has been sent by people claiming to be from The Future.\u00a0 Identical twin gossip rag journalists are badgering Eddie on Baird\u2019s whereabouts and one of the top studio directors Laurence Laurentz is unhappy with the casting of a cowhand as the lead in his new period drama.\u00a0 Welcome to the world of Hail, Caesar!<\/em><\/p>\n

Hail, Caesar!<\/em> is a Coen Brothers comedy, the first we\u2019ve had in eight years.\u00a0 It is a chaotic, mish mash of a production that is packed with big name Hollywood stars and at times, the scenes barely feel connected.\u00a0 But despite its ramshackle nature, Hail, Caesar!<\/em> is consistently funny and is a crowd pleasing love letter to the golden age of cinema.\u00a0 I appreciate that not everyone will care about verbal nods to Wallace Beery and Danny Kaye but I think even people who have merely a passing interest in this age of cinema will appreciate the spectacle of Scarlett Johanssen and her synchronized swimming troupe or Channing Tatum channelling Fred Astaire with a big time costumed song and dance number.\u00a0 It is a film that is in love with the idea<\/em> of Hollywood in the Fifties.\u00a0 Classically handsome leading men.\u00a0 Gorgeous dames flashing their pearly whites.\u00a0 Epic sound stage productions with a thousand extras.<\/p>\n

Of course none of it would be worth a damn if the script doesn\u2019t come together.\u00a0 To that end, I think Hail, Caesar!<\/em> is one of the Coen\u2019s funniest works in a long time and comfortably sits shoulder to shoulder with other classic comedies they\u2019ve produced such as The Big Lebowski<\/em> and Raising Arizona<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are dozens of great bite sized performances from some Coen Brothers regulars to enjoy here.\u00a0 George Clooney basically reprises his cheesy persona from O Brother Where Are Thou?<\/em> and is brilliant as movie star Baird Whitlock.\u00a0 Ralph Fiennes was a comedic revelation two years ago in Grand Budapest Hotel<\/em> and here he damn near steals the show in a ridiculous scene with Aiden Ehrenreich where Ehrenreich\u2019s character Hobie can\u2019t quite get his mouth around the line \u2018would that it were so simple\u2019.\u00a0 It\u2019s a hilarious homage to Jean Hagen\u2019s most famous scene from Singing\u2019 In The Rain<\/em>.<\/p>\n

One of my favourite moments in the film is a a scene with four religion leaders debating the theological merits of the film.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s an angry God!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe was<\/em> an angry God\u2026\u201d \u201cWhat, he got over it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hail, Caesar!<\/em> revels in absurdity.\u00a0 It enjoys poking fun at far-ranging topics including celebrities, religion, communism and journalism.\u00a0 But it does so in a very affectionate manner.\u00a0 Hail, Caesar!<\/em> feels like the Coen Brothers letting down their hair and having a bit of fun.<\/p>\n

\"hailcaesar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are many familiar names in the production who deliver fine performances but perhaps one of the most revelatory turns comes from the little known Aiden Ehrenreich.\u00a0 Ehrenreich plays Hobie, a simple minded performer whose bread and butter is performing stunts in Westerns.\u00a0 His career is turned on its head when he is rushed to the studio to perform as the lead in an arty period drama.\u00a0 He is also asked to stage an off-screen romance with an actress in the interests of raising their profiles with gossip columnists.\u00a0 Ehrenreich\u2019s performance as the dim witted but endearingly earnest Hobie is one the best things about Hail, Caesar!<\/em><\/p>\n

Holding the whole production together is Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix.\u00a0 Mannix was a \u2018studio fixer\u2019, apparently a real life occupation whose responsibilities involve keeping wayward actors in check and ensuring paparazzi and coppers don\u2019t interfere with the \u00a0production schedule.<\/p>\n

Brolin\u2019s Mannix is a calming, unflappable presence.\u00a0 He constantly deals with unhappy actors, directors, producers and financers and he plays a delicate balance act, ensuring everyone gets on with the job and that the show goes on.\u00a0 He is a Catholic with a lot of guilt on his shoulders.\u00a0 He knows he doesn\u2019t spend enough time at home.\u00a0 A head hunter from Lockheed is patiently courting his services, throwing an ever increasing salary at him as well as the offer of \u2018getting serious\u2019 and doing \u2018meaningful work\u2019.<\/p>\n

But for Mannix, a love of Hollywood, and all its weird and wonderful excesses, keep him going.\u00a0 Most films have a character who represents the eyes and ears of the audience.\u00a0 In Hail, Caesar!<\/em>, I think Mannix represents the Coens.\u00a0 This is their nineteenth feature film in a thirty two year career.\u00a0 Who knows what keeps them going or how long they intend to make films for but clearly, a love of cinema, and specifically a love of Hollywood, is a big part of the appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Hollywood movie set descends into chaos when the lead actor is abducted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2477,1246,763,2472,1121,2476,1148,2239,1923,2120,1133],"class_list":["post-19493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-films","tag-aiden-ehrenreich","tag-channing-tatum","tag-coen-brothers","tag-frances-mcdormand","tag-george-clooney","tag-hail-caesar","tag-jonah-hill","tag-josh-brolin","tag-ralph-fiennes","tag-scarlett-johansson","tag-tilda-swinton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19493"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20229,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19493\/revisions\/20229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}