Hail Caesar

"Hail Caesar" was actor Anthony Michael Hall's debut as a director. With the exception of an episode of the television show "The Dead Zone", he has not directed anything since. Seeing this movie, the reason for this is pretty obvious. To be fair, he was working with a pretty low budget, which is pretty evident throughout. For example, in several scenes with two people talking, he never shows a shot of the two characters in the same shot - he just shot each actor alone, and edited both sets of footage together. But the problems of "Hail Caesar" go beyond the low budget. All of the characters in the movie are annoying and obnoxious, and the movie doesn't know whether to be a satire of the music business or a goofy comedy about a youth trying to win over the father of his girlfriend. If you are thinking of giving this movie a try because of its cast, a word of warning: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., and Judd Nelson each just have a few minutes of screen time. Thumbs down for this Roman emperor!

Saw this gem in the dollar store on vacation and realized I had never seen or heard of it before. Being a fan of several of the actors I decided to pick it up, besides it was only a dollar. Another movie that was available was Samarai Jack. Hooray for Samarai Jack and a resounding "What were they thinking" for "Hail Caesar".

They should have included a shower and some toilet paper with this movie.

The only entertainment value we had while viewing this piece was guessing what cliché would be exploited next.

I do plan however to loan this movie to anyone who annoys me... and they said "Ishtar" was a bad movie.

An interesting movie could be made of the "thinking" that guided the financing of such a bad movie.

I have seen some bad movies in my life, but this is the worst in years. With the exception of Robert Downey Jr's 6 minutes (at 50 minutes into the movie) or Judd Nelson's 4 minutes (at 80 minutes in), there is nothing redemptive. Samuel L. Jackson must have been paying a bad debt, ant obviously Downey was being generous. Leslie Dannon as the love interest is reasonably hot (especially in the end), but her acting skills run the gamut of a to b. Downey's talent is so clear in the scene and a half that he is in, that he is without equal talent wise in this film.

For a brief time in the mid 80s, i thought that Hall had some talent, but I have been healed of this mistaken belief now. How he got the freedom and financing to direct, produce, and star in a movie, when Judd Nelson's career disappeared, is beyond me. In my humble opinion, Hall is not a pimple on Nelson's hind end (to paraphrase Joe Seneca in Crossroads). Furthermore, it is hard to take anyone seriously who appears to have made a serious effort at looking like Corey Haim.

In addition, the production values suck. The editing sucks. There are noticeable jumps in movement (as if it were stop motion photography) during the Downey Jr scene.

I might add in conclusion that it i would rather pass a kidney stone than listen to another song by Hall.

i don't remember anything about this movie other than it being completely terrible. it should be in the bottom 100, and it will someday as soon as it has enough votes.

1/10