Review by johnnesche

The Cohen Brothers and one of their best casts had all the makings of a definitive satirical look at "Golden Age" Hollywood but no one had the guts to tell them that the disastrous right wing Red Scare years that destroyed so many lives was still not funny, probably never would be, and treating the HUAC charges as if they were grounded in reality only made it worse. There's wonderful, funny, surprisingly accurate stuff here, but the title sub-plot is an insult to some of Hollywood's legitimate greats, not satire and sunk the original release as thoroughily as the Brothers did the ransom money in the mistaken belief it would "take the curse off" the big lie in the subplot. 🙄 Channing Tatum's tantalizingly gay dance for a film about sailors about to ship out is a hilarious highlight and the charming "singing cowboy" makes you wonder why the lad has not had a more major career. His performance and story were all the film should have been.