Hail, Caesar!

As I stood in line playing on my phone and waiting for my popcorn, the pungent smell of marijuana began to overwhelm me. So I eventually looked up and noticed that there were about 10 college students in front of me who were shamelessly negotiating for free ice to go along with the water they had sneaked into the theater. This of course took me back to my days in college when I would "borrow" change from my roommate's dresser so I could hit up the $1 menu at Burger King on a Sunday night. That was the one night of the week the dorm didn't feed poor freshman like me, so we all had to go off and fend for ourselves with the hopes that the cute upperclassmen didn't notice us paying for our food in nickels. So needless to say, I felt sorry for those poor kids while simultaneously making sure none of the theater's employees noticed the candy that I myself had sneaked in in my jacket pocket.

Now having said all that, this Dazed and Confused moment also took me back to my first experience with Jonah Hill when he apologized for the fact that the Coen brothers didn't direct the porn he liked to watch in Superbad. Well I guess the Coens saw and liked that movie too as they eventually broke down and threw Hill a bone when they cast him in their latest comedy Hail, Caesar! For decades this talented duo has proven that they are smarter than pretty much anyone else in Hollywood by consistently writing and directing films that are full of rich nods to ancient times or Greek mythology. And while Caesar isn't one of their denser stories, it certainly does provide you your Coen brother fix.

In Caesar, you are introduced to Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), he is Capitol Studios' problem fixer as he keeps things running smoothly between the actors, the producers, the directors, and even the media. And you can tell early on that his hands are full when you see the cast of characters he has to deal with on a daily basis. There is the talented but egocentric Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), the beautiful and promiscuous DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), and the adorable but simple Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) just to name a few.

Well one day while filming the studios' blockbuster picture Hail, Caesar, a group of Communists decide to kidnap Baird, the film's star. So Eddie must find the group and Baird before word gets out in the media and the film is forced to shut down, costing the studio millions.

Along the way you get the usual Coen brother kookiness with their random assortment of odd characters and complicated theories. But you also get a trip down memory lane as they take you back to how films were made in the 50's and how Hollywood manipulated the media during that time period. Actors and director's reputations were protected at all costs and writers were under appreciated for their contributions to the industry (they even give a quick nod to Dalton Trumbo in a fairly critical scene). It's funny seeing how cheesy pictures were back then and it certainly does make you appreciate how far film has come since the days of elaborate dance numbers and singing cowboys. And Tilda Swinton's aka Thom Yorke's performance alone is worth the price of admission as she plays the role of bickering twins who randomly pop up and confuse everyone at some of the film's most tense moments.

Now Caesar won't go down as a Coen brother classic but it will certainly have you laughing out loud quite a bit as I walked out of the theater feeling thoroughly entertained. I rate this movie as FRESH! Duh, it's a Coen brother film, even their porn is outstanding!