Movie review: ‘Hail, Caesar!’ by the Coen brothers

“People don’t want facts — they want to believe!”

That cry, arriving near the end of Joel and Ethan Coen’s dizzy, delightful romp Hail, Caesar!, is as close to a declaration of principles as the fraternal filmmakers have ever made. (Remember, this is the same team that bamboozled people 20 years ago into thinking Fargo really was based on actual events.)

People do want to believe — in the magic of movies, in the fantastical possibilities of escape provided by the silver screen, and in the notion that, when we gather in the dark, the communal feeling of watching light on a screen borders on religious ritual.

As a testament to the Coens’ skill, such high-minded intentions don’t deflate the film’s freewheeling, frothy plot, which moves at a pace unseen since the glory days of Preston Sturges.

Josh Brolin stars as Eddie Mannix, the head of production for the fictional Capital Pictures (and, yes, there really was an actual Eddie Mannix) who spends his days “fixing” the varied problems of the movie stars on the lot.

Whether it’s hastily arranging cover for an unwed pregnant starlet, scrambling to replace an actor or fending off scoop-hungry gossip columnists, Mannix rises early and sleeps little, if at all.

He is a man who believes — a supplicant before celluloid, aware of its power and willing to go to great lengths to keep the dream factory humming along.

A wrench is thrown into the works when movie star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney, having a total blast) mysteriously vanishes from the set of Hail, Caesar!: A Tale of the Christ — a wry homage, one of many, to Hollywood’s mid-1950s infatuation with lavish period epics — and Mannix must scramble to arrange a ransom while keeping the whole incident hush-hush.

To give away much more would spoil the gleeful twists and turns that the Coens, who also wrote the screenplay, pack into the film. (Also of note, cinematographer Roger Deakins’ loving visual evocations of Hollywood’s Golden Age, even occasionally framing scenes in the traditional 1.33:1 ratio.)

The entire cast appears to be having just as much fun as Clooney: Ralph Fiennes as the effeminate British director Laurence Laurentz, Alden Ehrenreich as amiable cowpoke Hobie Doyle, Channing Tatum as song-and-dance man Burt Gurney, Tilda Swinton as twin gossip columnists Thora and Thessaly Thacker, Scarlett Johansson as gruff starlet DeeAnna Moran, Frances McDormand as nicotine-stained editor C.C. Calhoun, or Jonah Hill as taciturn accountant Joseph Silverman.

There isn’t a slack performance in the bunch — often, these A-list names are on screen for mere minutes — and everyone is dialed into the film’s loopy frequency.

Even as its most absurd, Hail, Caesar! has an undertow of melancholy — the feather-light narrative is given weight by allusions to Hollywood’s painful, unjust blacklist era and how the once-mighty empire of moviedom has fallen into disrepair (the fall of Rome, if you will) — marking it as a comedy with more on its mind than simple mirth.

The Coens have paid warped tribute to Hollywood before. Who could forget the harrowing satire of 1991’s Barton Fink? But the jabs are more affectionate than acidic in Hail, Caesar!

Tinseltown may not make ’em like they used to, but fortunately for 21st-century audiences, the Coen brothers can still make an audience believe.

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Movie review: ‘Hail, Caesar!’ by the Coen brothers."