Directed by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men; Burn After Reading; A Serious Man; Fargo; Inside Llewyn Davis) and starring Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men; Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; Men in Black 3; American Gangster), George Clooney (Argo; Syriana; Michael Clayton; Gravity; Up in the Air; Ocean's Eleven), Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient; Schindler's List; The Grand Budapest Hotel) and Alden Ehrenreich (Blue Jasmine; Beautiful Creatures).

Comedy drama, 106 mins, 6+, in English

The latest Coen brothers feature film which is set in Hollywood in the 1950s. It follows Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a Hollywood mogul as he manages and/or balances numerous film projects concurrently, fire-fighting and dealing with financiers, actors and his family. As this is set in the aftermath of WWII and the Cold War had just begun, with the establishment out to crush communists, a theme which rears its head in one of the sub-plots. Another concerns the protagonist being courted by industry to leave the "world of movies" and work "where his talents will be appreciated". There's also the sub-plot of actress DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) who becomes pregnant out of wedlock during a film shoot, so steps are taken to protect her and the film studio, with the hlp of Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), who has featured singing in Westerns but who cannot act. And twin sisters Thora and Thessaly Tacker (both Tilda Swinton) who are gossip columists, trying to find the inside story and juicy bits for their readers to consume.

A satire on Hollywood, the main storyline concerns Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), a famous actor who is nearing the end of a shoot on the set of the film "Hail, Caesar!", directed by Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes), when he goes awol. The audience gets to see what has happened to him but Eddie Mannix suspects he is on another one of his benders involving booze and/or women.

A classic Coen brothers film built on dry wit and deadpan humour, albeit not quite to the standard of No Country for Old Men and arguably a cross between that and the comedy Burn After Reading which also featured spy/subversive themes, despite the great cinematography. The film studios and the costumes are most certainly superb and pristine in their own rights. Overall a highly amusing tale featuring a slew of A-list actors; however, certainly not a sum of its parts.

Forgettable? Possibly...

Currently screening at Utopolis Kirchberg and Utopolis Belval