Life in pictures, in a picture

Josh Brolin in a scene from "Hail, Caesar!" Image courtesy Universal Pictures.

Picking on Hollywood for being shallow and vainglorious and outright artificial is both easy and passé, at least when its done by lesser hands. “Hail, Caesar!” – a flick that teases Hollywood for the reasons listed above and more – is, fortunately, a Coen Brothers film, which automatically grants this movie a little more panache than it would have otherwise. And while even cinema’s greatest sibling pairing can’t avoid the trappings of the insider flick, their version flashes the brothers’ eccentric mindset, and it’s quite clear the brothers mock with love, not viciousness.

Based on the imagination of the Joel and Ethan Coen, “Hail, Caesar!” stars the terrific Josh Brolin as the perfectly named Eddie Mannix, a Hollywood studio head defined by his efficiency, tireless work ethic, and perfect mustache. Taking place over the course of around 28 hours or so, the film catches Brolin amid his day-to-day business dealings, including breaking up illicit photo sessions with a starlet, converting oater star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) into the star of a Douglas Sirk-esque flick (directed by Ralph Fiennes), and arranging to have pregnant star DeeAnna Morgan (Scarlett Johansson) married off before her child is born. The man has a pretty busy life, and it gets all the crazier when the star of his upcoming blockbuster “Hail, Caesar!” Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped by a gaggle of communist writers and held for ransom. All of that comes on the same day that Brolin must decide if he'll take a management position with Lockheed Martin, a job that offers better pay, better hours and far less insanity. Throughout the day he also visits a slew of characters played by Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Frances McDormand, Alison Pill and an armada of that guys.

“Hail, Caesar!” is a rather silly little film made by two of the best filmmakers of all time, which makes it something more than a silly little film. A Coen Brothers film is guaranteed to have more going on than what it shows, and there is certainly something bubbling beneath the surface of Clooney's innocent mugging and sly gay jokes at Tatum's expense. There's definitely religious undertones – a bit heavy handed, although perhaps a jab at their own reliance on them? – as well as commentary about the McCarthy era and about the pettiness of Hollywood life, topics that have been covered frequently, including by the Coens themselves in movies like “Barton Fink.”

Few filmmakers would wrap those subjects in such a bright, shiny ribbon as the Coen Boys do. The brothers weave in era-appropriate dance numbers, synchronized swimming routines and even a lovely little cowboy song into the swing of thing, weaving in footage of films within the universe depicted in “Hail, Caesar!” – including the titular flick featuring Clooney's Whitman – with the reality in which those films are shot. The divide between the film’s reality and the films within the film become difficult to parse as the movie goes on; Michael Gambon's narrator provides voiceover for “Hail, Caesar!” the movie and “Hail, Caesar!” the movie within the movie and stars will find themselves reenacting scenes from their own films in the fake real life. Two of the actors even start singing a song together that, in most films, would lead into a full-on musical number (the fact it doesn't and ultimately segues into a sequence befitting a noir thriller is totally Coen).

The downside of the blurring reality is the effect it has on the plot machinations. The Coens paint themselves into a corner when it comes to the resolution for the internal strife Brolin's Mannix faces; there is only one way the film could end because “Hail, Caesar!” follows the same rules as the fake movies it parodies adoringly. It's not the first time the Coen Brothers have run up against this problem, and it kills the sense of uncertainty featured in their best work.

Darn it though if the movie itself isn't a blast. The Coen boys know their way around fast talking characters, and the actors they enlist are up to the challenge of revisiting a strange time in filmmaking history. “Hail, Caesar!” certainly never reaches the brilliance of “No Country for Old Men” or “Fargo” or “Miller's Crossing” or “The Big Lebowski” or “Raising Arizona,” but it is just fine as it is; a fun, smart and peculiar little film.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 106 minute

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away

Target audience: Coen Brothers film fans and people who like screwball comedies.

Take the whole family?: There really isn't anything overly explicit about this film. The kids would get a little bored by it, but they won't require earmuffs either.

Theater or Netflix?: Good for a rainy day matinee.

Is this really a February film?: Even if this isn’t the best Coen Brothers film, the thing is much better than the average February selection. It’s not quite good enough on the whole to fit the late fall Oscar rush (although I hope Josh Brolin isn’t forgotten for next year’s Academy Awards) and this definitely isn’t a summer film either. Such a shame to waste a good film during the worst season for films.

Watch this as well?: Almost everything by the Coens is at least good, but “Barton Fink” and the cruelly underrated “Hudsucker Proxy” exhibit the filmmakers' quirky take on Hollywood life and love for fast talking films, respectively. Also flag down Robert Altman's “The Player,” which features “Hudsucker Proxy” lead Tim Robbins as a darker version of Brolin’s Eddie Mannix.