Did anyone else get the sense that the Coen Brothers made this for themselves? That's not a criticism, but I felt like it was more a conversation between themselves and other insiders about what its like to work in Hollywood, and entertaining the audience was like a secondary objective. I felt like each scene was the outcome of some moment or theme of frustration of working in film, but I guess specifically Hollywood. It seemed like every frustrating thing I've ever heard about hollywood was covered: the exhausting pompousness of auteur directors, the frustration of good-looking non-actor actors, the absurdity, the constant illusion of the PR game, the horse-trading of assets, the self-serving critics. The draining patience required of placating and approval seeking of audiences and critics. You get the idea.

Yet the film has little surprises: Hobie Doyle makes a turn as a sleuth, DeeAna Moran's dilemma works itself out, and that is phrased rather tellingly in a tone of relief.

I guess if I could sum up how they feel about film, it would be the way my dad describes golf: It's an inherently frustrating process, and you wonder why you do it, but every round you get one drive, one put, something that keeps you coming back. There are probably better scenes, but that turn Hobie Doyle (Ehrenreich) suggests that no matter how jaded one, Mannix, the Coen brothers are about film, they can still be surprised, and that's one element that keeps them coming back. Or maybe they like the back and forth in a masochistic sort of way, as Mannix's and Thora/Thessaly banter would suggest at the end of the film after the confessional scene.