Hail, Caesar!

"The Coen Brothers are, hands down, among the greatest film directors working today. Which has two effects. Firstly, nobody's liable to knock their work when it's not quite up to snuff. Secondly, they need to be held to higher standards than their peers."

"An inside-showbiz lark that regards the 1950s studio system with the utmost skepticism even as it becomes an expression of movie love at its purest."

"A love letter inked in arsenic, at once celebrating the artistry of Hollywood and cringing at the crass commercialism and rampant phoniness of it all."

"Weds the backstage Hollywood shenanigans of Barton Fink to a more manic pace. It doesn't seem new for them, yet as super polished, mannered, slightly surreal comedies go, the movie feels as rare as a unicorn."

"It's difficult to remember a recent movie so tartly on-point in skewering a power-driven industry obsessed with such seemingly meaningless ephemera as screen-credit and commissary pecking orders."

"If this were anyone other than the Coens you might think that success and a couple of Oscars had mellowed them. Not likely. "Hail, Caesar!" is one of those diversions that they turn out in between masterworks and duds."

"A lot of fun, and beautifully crafted, too. One to savour."

"A hipster mash note to the way things used to be, it will put a smile on your face and keep it there for the duration."

"Interesting for insiders, but in their first order of business, that of making a rousing comedy about the Hollywood of 65 years ago, they've fallen rather short."

"Charm goes a long way, but in terms of the Coens' overall oeuvre, Hail, Caesar! is endearing but inessential viewing."

"Likely to fry the mind of anyone who hasn't yet built up a resistance to the brothers' foibles and predilections over the past 16 films, it's easily the most Coen-y Coen movie they've put out. But then, they are stealing from the best."

"This is one of my favorite movies ever made about making movies."