Hail Caesar! review

A studio fixer in the 1950s tries to keep production rolling when a star is kidnapped.

Joel and Ethan Coen return after the lo-fi meandering of Inside Llewyn Davis for a film that couldn't be more different. Set in the early 1950s, Hail, Caesar! dives deep inside the studio system for a tale of underhand dealings, crazy stars, kidnappings and some added Commie hysteria. And it has quite a lot of fun while doing it.

Mostly that's down to the typically excellent cast, headed up by Josh Brolin - who seems to be realising a surprising capacity for comedy in the wake of his turn in Inherent Vice. He's all over this picture, trying to keep the cogs of a major made up studio going amid all kinds of absurd, yet somehow more or less believeable, goings on.