written, produced, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Eddie Mannix (Brolin) has problems and has decisions to make. He is a big wheel at Capitol Pictures in the 1950s. He doesn't own the place but he runs it. One of his stats (Clooney) goes AWOL. Eddie later learns that the star was kidnapped and is being held for ransom. Eddie is also being courted by Lockheed. They've seen what he gets done at Capitol and want him on their team.
Thoughts
There was a real studio bigwig named Eddie Mannix. He worked at MGM. He was an enforcer who rose very high at MGM. Toni, his second wife, had an affair with George Reeves. That story is the subject of the film Hollywoodland.
I really like a number of the Coen Brothers' earlier films: Miller's Crossing, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Fargo. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to seeing this one. I knew not to expect it to be too straight forward and it isn't. The movie is as much about the setting and the atmosphere as it is about the characters or the story. There are a lot of familiar faces in small roles: Clancy Brown, Scarlet Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Wayne Knight, to name a few.
I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. It was definitely worth my time and I wouldn't mind watching it again. There was so much to take in that I'm sure I missed things.
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