We Who Are About to Laugh, Salute You!

(Very mild spoilers ahead) About half an hour into the Coen Brothers latest joyride, Hail, Caesar!, Josh Brolin's character, studio exec & fixer Eddie Mannix, sits in his car brooding before he goes to rescue a damsel actress in minor distress.  In that moment, Mannix is considering his career, his home life, having a cigarette (which his wife has forbidden him from doing), and all of the other crazy occurrences that are his daily existence.  It's a rare contemplative moment in an otherwise bonkers and non-stop action / heist / comedy film, and it is in those instances that it becomes clear just how on their game the Coens' are at the moment.  Hail, Caesar! truly is a deliriously funny, incredible delight of a film. The movie itself is structured mainly as a loose series of Old Hollywood vignettes structured around the day-to-day job of Mannix.  As an executive at Capital Pictures, a giant motion picture studio, Mannix spends his day stopping actresses from being photographed off the lot, arranging for unwed pregnant actresses to hide, and consulting with a bevy of religious figures on the portrayal of Jesus in his newest picture (the eponymous 'Hail, Caesar!').  Each of these escapades just adds to his general sense of exhaustion and, with an offer for a cushy Lockheed desk job, it's a chore to justify why he's doing what he does to his wife.  Thank goodness for us that he does! With all of this insanity swirling about, the real caper begins when a mysterious set of extras kidnap the studio's biggest star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), off of the set of 'Hail, Caesar!'  Drugged and dragged from the set, Whitlock wakes up in a gorgeous Malibu mansion surrounded by a cabal of communist screenwriters all of whom teach him the finer points of the capitalist system of which he is a major part.  This part of the movie is absolutely Screwball Clooney at this best.  The Coens' know exactly how to write and direct Clooney to his maximum comedic potential, and it works wonders here. Once the Communists call in the ransom, for a hefty sum of $100,000, everything starts to come together.  That Joel and Ethan Coen are able to take all of the story lines (there are a few!) and weave them all together seamlessly should serve as no surprise to anyone who has seen a few of their movies, but it's really beautiful nonetheless.  It all works because of their writing and direction, and also because of their immaculate casting. Again, no real epiphany that the Coens' have an amazing cast.  There are excellent turns here from, of course, Brolin and Clooney but also Scarlett Johansson as a single, pregnant, aquatically gifted actress; Jonah Hill as the most trustworthy man in Hollywood; Channing Tatum as Gene Kelly in 'Anchors Aweigh;' Tilda Swinton in a great double role as a pair of sisters, one a serious reporter, the other a tabloid journalist; Ralph Fiennes as a patient, persistent British Director.  They're all great.  The real standout, though, is (relative) newcomer Alden Ehrenreich who plays a singin' cowpoke named Hobie Doyle.  In the absolute highlight performance of the film, Hobie sings, ropes, connives, and pronounces his way into your heart.  The absolute joy with which he performs in this role is infectious and one can only hope that Ehrenreich is in every movie ever from now on. All in all, Hail, Caesar! is a thoroughly enjoyable and fun romp around the Hollywood's "Golden" Age.  It has an amazing cast, incredible song and dance numbers (and a great synchronized swimming routine!), and enough plot to keep you engaged the whole way through. It may not have the most cohesive story or be a harrowing meditation on life in the way that say No Country for Old Men is, but I dare say if you're looking to laugh, or if you're eyes grow wide at the site of spectacle, there's not better place to be this weekend than watching Hail, Caesar!