10 Great Movies About Hollywood

The Coen Brothers are no strangers to tackling big themes, from justice in No Country for Old Men to greed in Fargo. One of their most recent pictures, Hail, Caesar! is no exception to this trend.

The film follows a day in the life real-life Hollywood fixer Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), wherein he helps a pregnant actress (Scarlett Johansson), rallies behind a famous director (Ralph Fiennes), clashes with tabloid journalists (Tilda Swinton in a duel role), and has to find a missing infamous womaniser and megastar (George Clooney) during the filming of his latest Biblical epic.

A typically high-speed, witty plot for the Coen Brothers, Hail is a black comedy of the highest order and a brilliantly cynical dissection of Hollywood in the '50s, mocking the movie making system and the actors, producers and directors around it.

It's easy to watch the movie and assume that the Coen Brothers hate the way Hollywood is behind the scenes, but their casual mockery of the industry is subverted by a frank and intelligent script which turns the comical cynicism of the flick into a hopeful love letter to Hollywood's Golden Age.

Propped up throughout by a staggering on-form cast, which also includes Jonah Hill, Frances McDormand and Channing Tatum, Hail, Caesar! might not be the Coen Brothers' best film, but it certainly succeeds in painting a vibrant and honest portrait of Hollywood and its inhabitants.