--- title: "Hail, Caesar!" year: 2016 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/hail-caesar" fi1m_score: 72 critics_score: 70 critics_reviews: 29 published: "2026-09-18T09:09:31.621816+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T09:09:32.170641+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Hail, Caesar! (2016) Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 1h 46m · MPA PG-13 · Comedy, Mystery **Fi1m score: 72** · Critics 70 from 29 reviews *In a sentence:* Everyone in Hollywood is a fraud except the cowboy, and he cannot say his line > The Coen brothers’ Hollywood comedy is a run of near-perfect pastiches, a sailor tap number, a water ballet, a singing cowboy in a dinner jacket, strung on a kidnapping plot that hardly matters. It is slighter than it looks and warmer than it sounds. ## Synopsis Hollywood, the early 1950s. Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) runs production at Capitol Pictures, which means he spends his days and most of his nights keeping the studio’s stars out of the newspapers. Today the lot is shooting the Roman epic that gives the film its name, a swimming picture built around DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), and a drawing-room drama into which the singing cowboy Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) has been dropped, to the despair of its director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes). Then the epic’s star, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), is drugged on set and carried off in his centurion’s skirt, and a ransom note arrives signed The Future. Mannix must get him back before the twin gossip columnists Thora and Thessaly Thacker (Tilda Swinton) find out, while an aircraft company keeps offering him a quieter job. ## Review The Coen brothers have gone back to Capitol Pictures, the studio that swallowed [*Barton Fink*](https://film.one/film/barton-fink) twenty-five years earlier. It is now the early 1950s and the man running the lot is Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a fixer who spends one day and one night putting out fires. The biggest fire is Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), star of the Roman picture that gives the film its name, who is drugged on set and carried off, skirt and breastplate and all. The film is that day. It is 106 minutes of set pieces wearing a plot as a disguise, and once you accept that, it is a good time. The pastiches are the point and they are done properly. Roger Deakins shoots each one in the manner of its period: the water ballet from directly above, the pool a hard turquoise, DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) rising out of the middle in a rubber tail; Hobie Doyle’s western in flat sunshine with rope tricks and a horse that knows its cue; the drawing-room drama in soft silver; the Roman epic all gold and marble and reverent low angles. Jess Gonchor builds a lot where a short walk crosses a thousand years. Mary Zophres puts Johansson in the tail, Channing Tatum in sailor whites and Tilda Swinton in hats that could take an eye out. Carter Burwell writes the film-within-the-film a chorus that swells like the real thing, and gives Mannix’s actual night something quieter and more worried. Two of the numbers are as good as anything the Coens have made. Burt Gurney (Tatum) leads a bar full of sailors in a tap routine lamenting the absence of women, played dead straight for the full length of a real number, and we grinned all the way through it, partly at the dancing and partly at how seriously everyone is taking it. And there is the scene in which Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) tries to get Hobie to say the line “Would that it were so simple.” Fiennes’s patience curdles one syllable at a time; Alden Ehrenreich’s mouth simply cannot make the shape. We laughed harder than we had in months, and it is essentially two men saying five words. Ehrenreich is the discovery. He plays Hobie as decent and baffled, a boy who can do anything with a lasso and nothing with a sentence, and the film, unusually for these directors, never sneers at him. Brolin does the heavier work. His Mannix slaps a starlet’s photographer, slaps Whitlock, and goes to confession at dawn to admit he has had a cigarette he promised his wife (Alison Pill) he would give up. An aircraft company keeps offering him a serious job with serious hours, and the film’s real question, asked quietly under the nonsense, is whether making nonsense is honourable work for a grown man. Clooney does his idiot routine well. Swinton plays both Thacker sisters as if they were the same woman refusing to admit it. Frances McDormand gets one scene as the editor C. C. Calhoun, a Moviola and a scarf, and it is perfect. What does not work is the kidnapping. Once we meet the kidnappers, the film becomes a seminar, and the second half takes the plot somewhere we will not describe, except to say it comes to less than it should. Whitlock disappears from the film for long stretches. Around the hour mark we realised we were waiting for the next number rather than the next scene, and that is a fault in the writing, not in us. The Coens cut their own films, and the cutting between the lot and the beach house has a stop-start feel, so that neither strand builds. The ending is quiet on purpose. We understood that, and we still wanted more. *Barton Fink* used this same studio to make a nightmare about whether pictures are worth a serious person’s life. This is the same lot in daylight asking the same thing, and it answers more kindly and with less force. See it for the sailors, the cowboy and the water ballet, and for Brolin’s jaw. Do not expect it to add up; the Coens have decided it should not. It carries a 12A, and the best of it would fit into forty minutes. *Fi1m score 72, published 18 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like it, find it affectionate rather than sneering, and land on the same pleasures. The set pieces get the warmest notices: Channing Tatum’s sailor dance, the water ballet, and Ralph Fiennes coaching a cowboy actor through a single line are named repeatedly as the moments that justify the ticket. Alden Ehrenreich is the performance most often singled out, with several reviews calling him the film’s discovery, and the studio-era recreations are credited to regular Coen collaborators Roger Deakins and Carter Burwell. The reservations are about shape. Many find the film a string of sketches without a spine, with a central plot that never binds them and little at stake, and several suggest it will suit committed Coen admirers more than a general audience. The spread is wide, from raves to one outright negative: Digital Spy finds it disjointed and emotionally cold. Film Comment raises a different objection, faulting the absence of non-white characters. ### Reviews we read (29) - **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (90/100, inferred): The Coen brothers deliver a hilarious, affectionate knockabout homage to golden-age Hollywood that finds nostalgic joy in its chaotic plot, dance numbers and biblical-epic pastiche. The film is praised as a breezy love letter to the movies, redeemed by its infectious fun and standout comic set pieces. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/06/hail-caesar-observer-film-review) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film fast-paced and mostly enchanting, with an abundance of talent on display in its performances and technical elements. She praises the comedic turns from Clooney, Tatum, Ehrenreich and Fiennes while noting minor flaws in the central character and communist subplot. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/hail-caesar-film-review-o-brother-what-are-those-crazy-coen-brothers-up-to-now-a3195661.html) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (5/4/5): The Coens deliver a complex, playful satire of 1950s Hollywood that confounds expectations while showcasing transcendent screen craft. They highlight the film's focus on the logistical problem-solving behind movie-making and memorable set pieces like the sailor dance number. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/hail-caesar) - **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (4/5): The Coens deliver a skilfully handled, thrilling and often hilarious love letter to Golden Age Hollywood without sneering. They single out the pitch-perfect parodies of various film styles and the contributions of key collaborators like Deakins and Burwell. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/hail-caesar-review-skilfully-handled-thrilling-and-often-hilarious/) - **Time Out**, Joshua Rothkopf (4/5): The Coens return to playful comedy with this manic backstage Hollywood tale that feels rare and unicorn-like in its polish. They single out the dazzling details, including the Channing Tatum dance number and Michael Gambon's narration. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/hail-caesar) - **IndieWire**, Nick Schager (B): The review finds the Coens' Hollywood satire amusing in spots but ultimately uneven and overly familiar. It singles out the period pastiche and supporting performances for occasional sparks amid the scattershot narrative. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-coen-brothers-hail-caesar-starring-josh-brolin-george-clooney-scarlett-johansson-tilda-swinton-and-more-83998/) - **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (3/4): The Coens' manic pastiche of Hollywood tropes is elevated by their idiosyncrasies above a mere exercise, though its diffuse structure prevents it from feeling entirely fresh. The critic singles out the giddiness of the forgotten fads and strange wonderful sights like the tap dance number. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/hail-caesar/) - **Total Film**, Jamie Graham (75/100, inferred): The critic calls it undiluted Coens at their most playful and insular, a love letter to Hollywood laced with mischief and cynicism that excels in genre pastiches and in-jokes. While not for everyone, admirers of the brothers' quirkier work will appreciate its absurdist humour and cinematic chicanery. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/hail-caesar-review/) - **Empire**, Dan Jolin (70/100, inferred): The review describes Hail, Caesar! as a series of impressive pastiches and technical achievements that celebrate and mock old Hollywood, but faults the central story for lacking focus and failing to bind the sketches effectively. It concludes that committed Coen fans will likely enjoy its highly idiosyncratic style. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hail-caesar-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): The Coens deliver a droll tribute and spoof of Hollywood's past that amuses from start to finish through its precise re-creation of the studio system and its films. The committed ensemble cast and loving genre recreations make it fun and inviting for all viewers, whether or not they catch every inside reference. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-hail-caesar-review-20160205-column.html) - **Screen Daily** (70/100, inferred): The Coens turn to a zany Hollywood lark that proves uneven but remains engrossing and funny due to its off-kilter energy and Josh Brolin's lead performance. They single out the underlying investigation into finding purpose amid busy, unfulfilling lives. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/hail-caesar-review/5099147.article) - **Sight and Sound**, J.M. Tyree and Ben Walters (70/100, inferred): The Coens offer a warm-hearted salute to classical Hollywood's technical mastery and capacity for delight through detailed pastiche of multiple genres. They single out the craftsmanship of regular collaborators like Roger Deakins and Carter Burwell. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-hail-caesar) - **The AV Club**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (B-): The Coens lampoon religion, communism, and Hollywood with broad strokes and intentional anti-climax, resulting in an overstuffed but occasionally funny grab-bag. The critic singles out the absurd crises of faith and a standout comic set piece involving a director coaching an actor on one line. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-coens-swipe-at-religion-counterculture-and-hollyw-1798186448) - **Film Comment**, Violet Lucca (60/100, inferred): The critic finds Hail, Caesar! enjoyable for its expert telling and reconfiguration of Hollywood history, but criticizes the Coens for omitting non-white characters and their responses to diversity questions. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/hail-caesar-illusions/) - **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (3/5): The Coens' latest is a screwball comedy that stumbles in its execution despite strong pastiche elements and star cameos, feeling more like a string of showstopping set pieces than a cohesive story. It is viewed as a lighter but less successful follow-up to Barton Fink. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/14/hail-caesar-review-the-coens-screwball-stumble/) - **Vulture**, David Edelstein (60/100, inferred): The star-packed comedy feels overdeliberate and fails to cohere despite brilliant set pieces. The critic singles out the Channing Tatum tap-dance number and water ballet as fabulous highlights that stand on their own. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2016/02/movie-review-hail-caesar.html) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Todd McCarthy (50/100, inferred): The Coen brothers' comedy about 1950s Hollywood struggles to take off and delivers only intermittent pleasures. The critic singles out the portrayal of studio fixer Eddie Mannix as a righteous man in a corrupt world and praises the Channing Tatum sailor dance number as a highlight. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/hail-caesar-film-review-860214/) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (50/100, inferred): The Coens return to Hollywood with a sly, off-center comedy set against the studio system machinery, offering more than it first appears in its exploration of God, ideology, art, and entertainment. It is one of their typical diversions between major works, with familiar funny bits that may appeal mainly to fans of classic movies. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/movies/hail-caesar-review-coen-brothers-george-clooney.html) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar! is a messy but affectionate look at Hollywood's absurdities and its enduring power as cinema. It excels in bit parts and standout performances like Alden Ehrenreich's, while pondering the future of movies. [Read](https://collider.com/hail-caesar-review-coen-brothers-george-clooney/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as a sly, wickedly funny homage to early 1950s Hollywood, highlighting the Coens' spot-on send-ups of various film genres and the superb cast performances, especially the musical numbers and standout turns by Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and Tilda Swinton. [Read](https://deadline.com/2016/02/hail-caesar-review-george-clooney-scarlett-johansson-coen-brothers-hollywood-movie-review-1201696173/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (B+): The film is a sardonic love letter to Hollywood that pays tribute to classic movies while exposing their phoniness, but suffers from an all-over-the-place narrative. It excels in celebrating movie magic through homages like water ballets and dance numbers, anchored by Josh Brolin's fixer character. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-coen-brothers-hail-caesar-starring-josh-brolin-george-clooney-scarlett-johansson-tilda-swinton-and-more-20160203/) - **Eye for Film**, Anne-Katrin Titze (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the loving resurrection of early 1950s Hollywood through rich production design, costumes, and choreography, along with the Coens' infectious fun in mid-century paranoia scenes. The film is seen as all about making glorious pictures with no sarcasm toward the studio system. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/hail-caesar-2016-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze) - **Consequence** (70/100, inferred): Hail, Caesar! is an entertaining comic farce that captures the chaotic business of 1950s Hollywood through its many interwoven plotlines and ironic takes on stardom. It succeeds as light, silly fun but feels too whimsical to register as substantial. [Read](https://consequence.net/2016/02/film-review-hail-caesar/) - **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the spot-on spoofs of old Hollywood classics and Alden Ehrenreich's standout performance as the optimistic cowboy actor, while noting the film feels like a pastiche with a barbed political message. The finale is called unsatisfying due to a lack of narrative peril and a clear protagonist. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/hail-caesar-review/) - **The Wrap** (70/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a lighthearted, breezy romp through Golden Age Hollywood that succeeds through wit and flash despite lacking substance, singling out Alden Ehrenreich's hilarious breakout performance and the stylish evocation of the studio era. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/hail-caesar-review-coen-brothers-george-clooney-scarlett-johansson/) - **/Film**, Jacob Hall (65/100, inferred): The film is amusing but baffling, a quintessential Coen brothers movie that fits between Barton Fink and A Serious Man while exploring their worldview on movies, faith, and history. Alden Ehrenreich steals the show as the honest cowboy, and the piece appreciates the giddy love for Hollywood despite its opacity. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/542540/hail-caesar-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Don Kaye (2.5/5): The critic sees it as a light, insubstantial palate cleanser with fun set pieces and a great cast, but finds it fails to cohere or land jokes effectively, resulting in something mildly enjoyable but ultimately a footnote. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/hail-caesar-review/) - **Paste**, Jim Vorel (6.4): The film is a fleeting ensemble comedy with many stars but little cohesion, though some performances like Fiennes, Swinton, and Ehrenreich shine. It is blandly enjoyable in spurts but doesn't quite gel. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/hail-caesar-review) - **Digital Spy**, Ben Rawson-Jones (40/100, inferred): The critic notes some funny and visually splendid moments but finds the film disjointed and lacking emotional connection or dramatic stakes, leaving viewers disconnected despite strong industry insights and spectacle. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a785262/hail-caesar-review-the-coens-fail-to-connect-in-latest-lavish-caper/) ## Details - **Director:** Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - **Director:** Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - **Writer:** Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - **Cinematography:** Roger Deakins - **Editor:** Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - **Music:** Carter Burwell - **Production design:** Jess Gonchor - **Costume design:** Mary Zophres - **Producer:** Eric Fellner, Joel Coen, Tim Bevan - **Cast:** Josh Brolin as Eddie Mannix; George Clooney as Baird Whitlock; Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle; Ralph Fiennes as Laurence Laurentz; Scarlett Johansson as DeeAnna Moran; Tilda Swinton as Thora Thacker / Thessaly Thacker; Channing Tatum as Burt Gurney; Frances McDormand as C. C. Calhoun - **Runtime:** 1h 46m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 5 February 2016 - **Genres:** Comedy, Mystery - **Budget:** $22 million - **Box office:** $64 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMUUKtF_BF0 ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-18.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2017: Best Production Design (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Barton Fink* (1991), Fi1m 83: The same studio, the same question, and the Coens in a far darker mood — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/barton-fink.md) - *Singin' in the Rain* (1952), Fi1m 93: The real thing this film is imitating, and still funnier about Hollywood than most — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/singin-in-the-rain.md) - *Day for Night* (1973): Truffaut on a film set, where every crisis is small and every one matters - *The Player* (1992), Fi1m 85: Altman’s Hollywood, crueller and colder, with a studio executive who deserves it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-player.md) - *Sullivan's Travels* (1941), Fi1m 88: Preston Sturges asks whether comedies are worth making and answers in ninety minutes — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sullivans-travels.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/hail-caesar