Our story opens with Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) in confession. He admits that it has only been 24 hours since his last confession. He is there to admit lying to his wife about quitting smoking; he had had two or three today. Next we find him snatching a young actress from an unsanctioned photo shoot in the predawn. No sooner is he on the movie lot than his secretary peppers him with the issues of the day. This is a man with a high-stress long hours job.
The most significant story is that of Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), a big star who is notorious for drinking and womanizing, is missing. Kidnapped from the studio, he awakens to find himself among a group of Communist screenwriters, none of whom happened to be named Trumbo. They prove entirely non-threatening but take some effort to convert him to communism. He proves to be too dull to really understand them but he does prove to be sympathetic. When he gets back to Capitol Pictures, Mannix sets him straight.
Toward the end of the movie, Mannix is again in confession and admits that it has been 27 hours since his last confession (see above). Sure, it was humorous that he goes to confession daily but it struck me as odd. If you are the kind of man who goes to confession every day and offers up such sins as smoking behind your wife's back, how is it you aren't mentioning paying a ransom, lying to reporters, arranging shady deals to protect the image of your flawed movie stars, etc.? Is this supposed to reveal that he is morally blind about what he does? Or, more likely, was it just a weak attempt at humor that doesn't otherwise reflect on the character? Through this stressful day, he is repeatedly offered a job that will pay more, have fewer hours, and less stress; he declines because he thinks what he is doing now is the right thing to do.
From the previews, I got an entirely inaccurate view of what the film was going to be. It was clear that Clooney was kidnapped and Brolin was then confronting other stars. Was he plotting a rescue mission with these various performers? No. They are largely unrelated stories beyond being on Capitol Pictures movie lot. As such, the movie is just a day in the life of Eddie Mannix, showing disparate stories that never tie together.
My favorite character was Hobie Doyle (Aiden Ehrenreich) the singing cowboy suddenly roped into a romance movie. It was like casting Roy Rogers in a role written for Cary Grant. In fact, I would have liked to see that as the whole movie. The scene where the director, Lawrence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes), becomes increasingly frustrated with Hobie's inability to speak his lines was awesome. And here is Hobie trying so hard to be accommodating. Fiennes would direct him to give a "mirthless chuckle" or glance "ruefully" at the actress and Hobie would reply with a confused nod. The interaction between them was great. He was again quite charming and convincing with his romantic-interest-for-gossip consumption date. The uncultured Hobie proves to offer some of the best advice to Mannix and later saves the day. Recut this movie with Hobie as the central character and you might have a much funnier and more enjoyable film.
By contrast, the rest of the side stories are neither funny nor charming. DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) is abrasive and annoying. Her storyline was mostly tedious and her scenes weren't in the least bit funny. Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum) has a Gene Kelly-inspired song and dance number that was quite impressive but that is about all he does. Tilda Swinton's role as the competing twins, Thessaly and Thora Thacker, was truly silly. If the movie had embraced farce rather that merely flirted with it, this would have worked better. However, I did enjoy seeing Christopher Lambert and Clancy Brown in the movie; the last movie with both of them was Highlander (1986).
The movie clearly sought to recreate the studio system of the 50s and touch on the types of films that were churned out. Along the way, we see a Roman Epic, a romantic drama, a musical, a swimming extravaganza movie, and a Western. They spared no expense in recreating some of these. We don't see just a snippet to give us a flavor. No, we get the whole number. That struck me as overdone and distracting from the story. If this is to be a day in the life of Eddie Mannix, each of these Brolin-free scenes puts the story on hold while the directors riff on 50s films.
There are definitely some very funny bits but it is mostly underwhelming as a comedy. It was like the Cohen Brothers thought it would be cool to film a Gene Kelly dance number, an Esther Williams swimming scene, a Roman legion on the march, a Gene Autry Western, and then mashed them all into one movie. Individually, some good stuff, but as a whole it was mediocre.
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