Lots of film fans feel the Coen brothers are absolute geniuses, but to me they are hit and miss.  For every really good title — and they’ve produced several — there are an equal number of mediocre projects, and a surprising number of bombs (artistic, not commercial).  I was really looking forward to Hail, Caesar!, as its preview was one of the best I’ve seen in recent memory, promising plenty of Hollywood hijinks and affectionate nostalgia.

The nostalgia is present, but the film’s plot is half-baked and it goes absolutely nowhere.  Studio executive Eddie Mannix (based on a real figure in MGM history) (Josh Brolin) keeps Capitol Studios humming even as his biggest star (George Clooney) disappears, old gossip threatens to derail the studio’s biggest project, another star (Scarlett Johansson) demands help to disguise a health issue, and a lucrative job offer tempts Mannix to switch professions.  During all of this, the studio’s filmmaking efforts carry on, featuring scenes from a western (with newcomer Alden Eisenreich), a musical (with Channing Tatum), a drawing room drama (directed by Ralph Fiennes), a water-borne Busby Berkeley-esque show (with Johansson) and the title effort, a prestigious biblical epic.

So much talent, so many great ideas . . . what the hell happened?  The various tentacles of the plot are exactly that, intriguing threads of narrative leading away from a solid center until . . . until they merely taper off, unconnected to anything of import.  One by one each of the plot lines, as well as other interesting, tertiary characters, simply ceases to matter.  Logic and transition are lost, if they were ever really there in the first place.  Even the studio production scenes, as fun and nostalgic as they truly are, fail to sustain any attachment to the plot.  So enjoy Channing Tatum’s pitch-perfect dancing number for what it is, but don’t expect it to have any other relevance.

This film, much like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, has a lot going for it, yet ultimately adds up to very little.  The music and choreography are excellent; George Clooney has a great monologue in the film within a film; in-jokes and nostalgic references are frequent and amusing; and yet the film has almost nothing to say.  It isn’t enough to be intermittently entertaining — the Coen brothers are supposed to be among our finest filmmakers.  This is yet one more example that even they could use some guidance in their efforts.  Filmmaking is truly a collaborative art, and this is a perfect example of a script that needed several more drafts.  ☆ ☆.  25 February 2016.