The single best part of my experience watching Joel and Ethan Coen's Hail, Ceasar! was the woman sitting in the row in front of me who yelled out as the credits rolled: "That was the worst f**king movie I've ever seen in my life!" In fact, almost the entire theater seemed to vocally express their distaste for the film as they left the theater...in spite of the fact that everyone in attendance had enthusiastically laughed their way through it (at all of the right places to laugh, mind you). I wonder if this mimics the reactions of the audiences who first saw The Big Lebowski (1998) in theaters. Anyhow, I enjoyed the film immensely. I loved the homages--particularly their version of a Gene Kelly musical which makes me hope they will do an actual old school musical some time in the future--and the general meandering nature of the plot. I suspect this latter factor was the major influence in our audience's disliking of the film; it completely eschews a three-act structure and starts, stops, and sputters back to life seemingly at random. But I found it refreshing and unique.
7/10
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