The films made by the Coen brothers fall into one of two categories: the serious ones and the wacky ones. Inside Llewyn Davis, for example, is definitely one of the serious ones. Fargo sort of straddles the line between the two. Given its title, it’s easy to see that Hail, Caesar! falls solidly into the wacky category. It features two of the brothers’ most frequent collaborators, Josh Brolin and George Clooney, plus a whole host of familiar Hollywood faces, past and present, in a variety of minor roles.

Eddie Mannix is a manager and all round fixer at a major Hollywood studio in the 1950s and this film is essentially a depiction of what his job is like. The biggest production at the moment is Hail, Caesar!, a historical epic in which a Roman soldier is converted by Jesus. When the star Baird Whitlock, played by Clooney, goes missing during filming, he initially thinks he has gone for a bender and tries only to keep it quiet. But then he receives a ransom note and realizes that Whitlock has been kidnapped and so he needs to arrange the money. In the meantime, actress DeeAnna Moran, played by Scarlett Johansson, is currently unmarried but has become pregnant so he needs to figure out a way for her to keep the baby but avoid any scandal. Yet another problem is that the owner of the studio wants a young star Hobie Doyle to be the lead in a period drama. Unfortunately Doyle is a cowboy actor who the director Laurence Laurentz, plays by Ralph Fiennes, insists can’t act. In between all this, he still need to watch the dallies to keep himself updated on the status of each production, fend off the press, represented by twin sisters both of whom are played by Tilda Swinton, and keep everyone happy.

A major part of the fun of this film is spotting all of these celebrity cameos. Other major stars unmentioned so far are Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I recognized Christopher Lambert and Robert Picardo, but missed Dolph Lungren. This is especially fun since they are playing archetypes based on the great stars of yesteryear. For example Tatum here is basically a version of Gene Kelly, complete with a full song and dance sequence. Johansson is delightful with her scenery-chewing accent. This is one of those films in which all of the performers look like they’re having the time of their lives. As befits the wacky tone and a film that is about Hollywood itself, the colors are garishly loud and the performers even wear visible make-up.

The wackiest part might just be that Eddie Mannix was a real person and this doesn’t even show the craziest things that he did as part of his job. This makes it easier to understand why the Coen brothers pursued this as a personal project. I also liked how this film captures the ambiguous feelings they have about films from that era. They grew up watching and at that time thought they were magical and wonderful. Yet, seen in a modern light, it’s obvious that a lot of them were really crappy films. Hail, Caesar! may well be light, fluffy entertainment and its jokes aren’t even all that funny. But this observation gives it a bit of heart and that helps elevate it in my eyes.