This latest Coen brothers movie was as weird as I have found all of them. It appears to be a parody of 1950s Hollywood, and they left no genre unturned. There was the water musical, with Scarlett Johansson as a cantankerous and manly diving diva. And the standard Western, with Alden Ehrenreich playing a drawling, tobacco-chewing, lasso-wielding cowpoke. Channing Tatum was charming as a singing, dancing musical star who slept his way to the top, notably with Ralph Fiennes, a pretentious director named Laurence Laurentz. Tilda Swinton was insufferable as twin gossip columnists. The ‘plot’ was loosely arranged around George Clooney, the studio’s big star, and studio head Josh Brolin, who has a crisis of conscience every 24 hours; even his confessor tells him not to visit so often. Hometowner Heather Goldenhersh (JBS ’91) has plenty of screen time as Brolin’s secretary. The film is mostly a bundle of fun; if there is a deeper meaning, maybe it’s in the Ben Hur-style blockbuster they are filming with Clooney, which shows the Romans coming to Jesus in front of massive crosses. But I think not—it’s probably just nose-thumbing at the shallow, hypocitical and mindless World According to Coen.
Should You See It? It’s funny, so if you’re a Coen fan, yes. If not, wait for the DVD.
Viewed at Wehrenberg Des Peres Cinema
