“A Marmite Film”

I was really excited to see this new film from the Coen Brothers. I was kind of thinking it could be another Big Lebowski. Considering the cast has some fantastic names with the likes of George Clooney, Scarlett Johansen and Ralph Fiennes. But for me I was bitterly disappointed. I just found myself bored and although there were a couple of funny slapstick moments it just felt very forced. I like natural comedy when it just happens and it’s not predictable.

This led me to look at other reviews online and I found mixed reviews from “When the mighty fall, they fall hard.” (Telegraph, 2016) to“The Coen brothers conjure up nostalgic joy from this hilarious knockabout homage to the golden age of film” (Kermode, 2016).

To me this is a marmite film based on your sense of humour. From being a Coen Brothers film I think comparing it to other of their films is what ultimately lets it down.  Instead of clever jokes they just include slapstick which is funny every once in a while but not an entire film based on it. The last film I saw from them was Bridge of Spies where they had writing credits and I loved that film seeing the seriousness of the film but interjected with some snippy one liners which I expected from the brothers.

“James Donovan: Aren’t you worried?

Rudolf Abel: Would it help?” (Speilburg, 2015)

But I can’t remember any one liners from this film and you expect to remember lines from them!

Josh Brolin gave a good performance and reminded me of Jack Nicholson as J.J Gittes in Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, in the way he carries himself and gives little smug grins in the film. One person that was completely useless was Tilda Swinton as the twins Thora and Thessaly. Just tell me why there was the need for twins that were exactly the same, only wearing different clothes. There were no defining characters between the two and basically a completely useless use of a talented actress. Channing Tatum saves the film for me in his first scene where he is a sailor dancing and singing around. I didn’t know he could sing like that. But after that it goes downhill….fast.

The story its self sounds like a good idea for a film, going behind the scenes of making a film  but it was just very bitty for me. I want to be able to believe the story and follow it with ease. This is not one of those films. The characters you also want to follow the story lines but instead it feels like a lot of  cameos.

On the plus side, the set designs are nice but that’s the best I can find with the movie.

So this film gets my lowest mark of the year with only 2/5.

I feel I have to watch The Big Lebowski to get the nasty taste out of my mouth.

Swing and a miss boys, swing and a miss.

Works Cited

Kermode, M. (2016, March 6th). Hail, Caesar! review – superbly silly. Retrieved March 7th, 2016, from The Guardian:http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/06/hail-caesar-observer-film-review

Speilburg, S. (Director). (2015). Bridge of Spies [Motion Picture].

Telegraph, B. (2016, March 4th). Hail, Caesar! Review: Coens badly misfire with comedy light on laughs. Retrieved March 7th, 2016, from Belfast Telegraph: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/reviews/hail-caesar-review-coens-badly-misfire-with-comedy-light-on-laughs-34509561.html

Director: Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast: George Clooney, Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Josh Brolin

Genre: Comedy (supposedly)

Rating:  12A