Hail, Caesar!

image for Hail, Caesar!

Short takes

Not recommended under 12; parental guidance recommended 12-14 (lacks interest for young children; coarse language; substance use)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Hail, Caesar!
  • a review of Hail, Caesar! completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 1 March 2016.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not recommended due to lack of interest, coarse language and substance use)
Children 12 to 14 Parental guidance recommended due to themes and substance use
Children aged 14 and over OK for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Hail, Caesar!
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes and coarse language
Length: 106 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Hail, Caesar! is a Coen brothers comedy set in Hollywood in the 1950s. It follows a chaotic day in the life of “fixer” Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) as he tries to solve the actors’ and the studio’s  problems and keep scandals at bay. In one day he deals with a pedantic director (Ralph Fiennes), an actress’s indiscretion (Scarlett Johansson), a dancer with a secret (Channing Tatum) and two nosey journalists (both played by Tilda Swinton). But when movie star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) goes missing, Eddie realises that he may be in over his head.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

The 1950s Hollywood scene; religion; communism and the campaigns against it; kidnapping; alcohol and nicotine dependence

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie including:

  • Eddie slaps a man  and a girl in the face several times
  • In some of the movies that Eddie is watching, a man is whipped by a roman soldier and a cowboy shoots at another cowboy.
  • Baird is drugged and kidnapped by a group of men. However, after the initial kidnapping he is treated well.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  •  A Russian submarine appears in the middle of the ocean. This scene may be a bit frightening for young children. 

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group may also be scared by the above-mentioned scenes

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Some of the younger children in this age group may also be scared by the above-mentioned scenes

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

None found

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • There is some mild flirting between the characters in the film
  • An unmarried woman gets pregnant and does not know who the father is
  • There is a suggestion that an actor slept with a director to get a part

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some partial nudity in this movie, including:

  • Women wearing revealing clothing that shows cleavage

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Characters are frequently shown smoking throughout the film. Eddie is trying to quit smoking but has a few cigarettes.
  • There are several scenes of adults socially drinking at parties and at dinner
  • There is a mention that an actor is drying out in rehab and that another actor has gone on a bender.
  • Two men spike another man’s drink and which makes him pass out

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • damn
  • bastard
  • son of a bitch
  • hell

In a nutshell

Hail, Caesar! is a comedy set in the 1950s that is an inside look at the chaos of show business and the way in which studios worked to avoid scandals involving stars. Because of the coarse language, substance use, and themes that are more likely to be of interest to older audiences (such as the politics of the time) the film is not recommended for under 12s and parental guidance is recommended for children aged 12 - 14 years.

The main message from this movie is that you should do what you love rather than what is easy.   

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include loyalty and the importance of hard work.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the real-life consequences of telling lies and keeping secrets, and when it is appropriate to keep a secret.