BY ALEX BARTMAN

Staff Writer

Hail, Caesar! is the Coen Brothers’ giddy Technicolor love letter to Hollywood’s golden age that is both deftly clever and irrepressibly goofy. The film follows Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a fixer for the fictitious Capitol Pictures, who is helping the production of an upcoming film entitled Hail, Caesar! during Hollywood’s Golden Age. But when studio star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped, Mannix has to deal with more than just the fix. Ralph Fiennes as flamboyant British director Laurence Laurentz is molded to be similar to Laurence Olivier, Alden Ehrenreich is an endearing dope as the Ricky Nelson-style matinee idol Hobie Doyle, and Channing Tatum embodies the Fred Astaire-meets-Gene Kelly character Burt Gurney. Legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins captures the beauty in the backlots and film sets while bringing old Hollywood back to life. The only problem with the film is that it tends to jump around scenes too much. However, the film is an ode to the Coens’ earlier comedic films while honoring the motion pictures of 40’s and 50’s Hollywood that inspired them.