This is a love letter to old Hollywood, although like most love letters, one is more charmed that it was written at all than by the actual content. George Clooney is a Hollywood star who’s kidnapping brings a major production to a screeching halt and sends studio fixer Eddie Mannix (played by Josh Brolin) scrambling. Frankly, the A-listers who should steal the show turn in fairly flat performances, but a single shot back and forth between a cowboyed up actor (Alden Ehrenreich) and a regal director (Ralph Fiennes) over the pronunciation of a single line, “Would that it were so simple,” really steals the whole film. Not to mention a fantastic round table discussion between faith leaders about the nature of God solely so the studio’s tent pole piece doesn’t offend any religious group; it is the sole laugh out loud scene in a film billed as a comedy. The most telling piece of information about Hail, Caesar! is actually in the reviews. A look at Rotten Tomatoes for any given film will almost always show a higher audience rating than critic rating, sometimes by far. Audiences out for an enjoyable evening are generally less discerning than a hawk-eyed critic. For this film, the opposite is true, with the audience rating actually half of the critic rating. And that’s Hail, Caesar! A very pretty piece that those in the most self-congratulatory of industries will enjoy, while the outside viewer will remain fairly unmoved. Only the recipient of the love letter doesn’t see its inherent flaws.