HAIL CAESAR! (2016)

A film both written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen of legenday fame, strives to be something that it simply cannot be, a really good movie. I so wanted to like this movie for not only the filmmakers involved but its magnificent cast and production design evoking an era in Hollywood filmmaking that is simply no more. Unfortunately what I found was a film that simply tried too hard, succeeding only part of the time while being sunk by a ponderous production and inept handling of many of the comic sequences. However I still liked this movie and my hat is off to the noble effort that went forth in producing this film that tried to be a large scale comedy in the same vein as THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING and not quite succeeding. Kudos to an excellent cast that was comprised of George Clooney, Josh Brolin, Scarlett Johanssen (especially good), Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill and Frances McDormand among others. Too bad the script wasn’t up to snuff as compared to everything else.