For those who have no knowledge of Golden Age Hollywood, skip this as the humour is very much based on in-jokes.
Fans of Golden Age Hollywood will enjoy the pastiches of Hollywood films- a sword and sandals epic starring George Clooney, an Esther Williams swimming film starring Scarlett Johansson, a stagey drawing room comedy directed by Ralph Fiennes and a Gene Kelly style musical clearly based on On The Town, starring Channing Tatum. Unfortunately this collection of pastiches doesn't come together into a great film. Josh Brolin's fixer character is boring and the kidnap plot is very dull (and relies on another Golden Era Hollywood in-joke that only cinephiles will get- even as one myself I was bored with that element).
Removing the kidnap plot and giving more screen-time to the other characters (Ralph Fiennes role is pretty much just a cameo) would have improved it considerably. I can see they were aiming for a similar style of comedy to Singin' in The Rain, which parodies the arrival of the talkies. Aldren Ehrenreich gives easily the best and funniest performance as a star of cowboy pictures forced to star in Ralph Fiennes' stiff mannered comedy; this shows what the film could have been but missed the opportunity.
Fans of Golden Age Hollywood will enjoy the pastiches of Hollywood films- a sword and sandals epic starring George Clooney, an Esther Williams swimming film starring Scarlett Johansson, a stagey drawing room comedy directed by Ralph Fiennes and a Gene Kelly style musical clearly based on On The Town, starring Channing Tatum. Unfortunately this collection of pastiches doesn't come together into a great film. Josh Brolin's fixer character is boring and the kidnap plot is very dull (and relies on another Golden Era Hollywood in-joke that only cinephiles will get- even as one myself I was bored with that element).
Removing the kidnap plot and giving more screen-time to the other characters (Ralph Fiennes role is pretty much just a cameo) would have improved it considerably. I can see they were aiming for a similar style of comedy to Singin' in The Rain, which parodies the arrival of the talkies. Aldren Ehrenreich gives easily the best and funniest performance as a star of cowboy pictures forced to star in Ralph Fiennes' stiff mannered comedy; this shows what the film could have been but missed the opportunity.