Many years ago, following the release of The Big Lebowski, a critic said that in a perfect world, all movies would be made by the Coen Brothers.

Their body of work is second to none, so it is with no small amount of excitement, that one would bound in to the local cinema to see their new offering, Hail, Caesar!

The cast includes George Clooney, Josh Brolin and Frances McDormand, all of whom are Coen movie veterans.

But this film also boasts Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.

Mix this talent with a plot that promises to froth with wicked humour, intrigue and satire, and you have a recipe for sweet movie gold.

But as with all things, the proof is in the pudding.

The film begins promisingly enough, with the familiar Coen pacing and character building.

We are quickly thrust into a noir-style 50s Hollywood, where Josh Brolin's central character, Eddie Mannix, busies himself around tinsel town, fixing studio problems, gathering up wayward acting stars and wrestling with his own guilt over smoking too many cigarettes.

Soon after this, Clooney's Baird Whitlock, a huge Hollywood star of the time, is poisoned and kidnapped.

A ransom is demanded and Eddie quickly gathers the money.

Meanwhile, Hobie Doyle, a young cowboy character actor played by Alden Ehrenreich, struggles with his new studio-created image, as a sophisticated socialite, (an order which has been passed on by Mannix).

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This story runs parallel to Scarlett Johansson's DeeAnna Moran. She is a beautiful blonde bombshell actress, who has become pregnant and now Mannix has to spin a love story so the general public and nosey gossip columnist sisters (both played by Tilda Swinton) don't catch wind of the torrid happenings.

Once Clooney's Baird awakes and is welcomed by his surprisingly docile and learned captors, yet another plot unfolds, in which under appreciated Hollywood writers are trying to adopt a communist agenda so that studios don't take all their money and credit, a risky undertaking, given that this film is set in the 50s and the McCarthy witch-hunt era.

All this is glued together by the commanding narrator voice of Michael Gambon. 

Now, if you're thinking that this story seems somewhat convoluted, you wouldn't be wrong.

As the film trundles on, more and more characters are introduced, and though the makers set out to expertly weave their narratives as well as follow the central plot, the thread somewhat unravels, and we are left with a rather meandering tale.

Half the cast don't appear until well into the film's running time, and it feels as if an inordinate amount of star power has been used to fill these characters' collective boots. 

It's not all bad though. The film is punctuated with knowing satire and commanding performances, both of which will draw forth gleeful laughs.

The stakes that the actors gives their characters, fuel the glitzy foolish world that they inhabit with all important reality.

Also, there's a strong case to be made for the massive amount of screen time given over to the scenes being shot, within the film.

Tatum's dance scene, Ehrenreich's cowboy action chase, and Johansson's plush synchronised swimming musical number, all seem to diverge wildly from the plot, but to look at it from another angle, they imbue the Coen's world with a sense of the amazing, a tangible feel of the famous studio lots of Hollywood's Golden Era, where dreams were made and imaginations captured. It's a hard trick to pull off, but pull it off they do. 

But what of Eddie Mannix? Remember Eddie Mannix? He's the guy who this film is actually supposed to follow.

Too little time is taken to invest in the character and his problems. His endeavours are linked to every story, but rather than focussing on his narrative, each story is given hefty screen time.

The Coens it seems, have fallen for their typically brilliant bit-part characters, at the expense of the Brolin's Eddie.

They haven't bitten off more than they can chew. Their filmography attests to the fact that they have devoured stories more complex, but the mini stories within the larger film aren't weighted out.

The upshot is that despite the movie boasting obviously clever bits and pieces, the film is just that; bits and pieces. It's good, but feels slightly messy.

Hail, Caesar! (12A) is out Friday.

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