We refunded...

Sure they gave a refund for this movie, but when I ask to get a refund for The Fast and the Furious, they denied me one. BS.

Yeah, those of us in the lower crust obviously didn't get the film cuz we too stoopid to understand films designed for elite, upper crust audiences. We should just go back to Adam Sandler, Transformers and Fast & Furious movies while having sex with our sister/cousins. Wishin I could work an elite job like a movie theater too.

all work and no play make jack a dull boy.

I completely agree the film is charming and fun. I really enjoyed it, maybe because I came in with no expectations. I've seen a couple of Coen brothers films (Fargo, True Grit) but because they were very different from each other I didn't think it would be any particular style of film. Go in with an open mind and most people will like it. I found it very enjoyable and entertaining.

I understand your feelings. The Coens often make very odd films that are definitely not for everyone (especially the mainstream audience).

Personally, I found much of the humor on this movie to be similar as The Hudsucker Proxy. Take the conversation during the boardroom meeting right after Hudsucker jumped out the window. Note the several repetitious humorous injections from the old guy on the right "NOT including the mezzanine!" As I was watching the communist meeting with one of the guys on the right injecting "shut up" as the conversation toggled back and forth that's immediately what I thought of.

But unlike Hudsucker, this movie doesn't have a comical tone with every scene. There's a strange inconsistency to it. Sometimes the humor was slapstick (Whitlock's sword hurting himself & others or that brief scene with Frances McDormand in the editing room). Other times the humor was in the culmination of moments in the dialogue ("If it twere so simple"... to "It's complicated" to the dialogue exchanges with the religious consults with Mannix to ensure nothing offensive is in the picture. And a lot of the humor is purely visual - like the dramatic expressions on George Clooney's face or that wonderful "No Dames" routine that was both superbly executed and humorously gay at the same time - it had me laughing so hard I was almost in tears.

Yet, at the same time I felt quite underwhelmed with Hail, Caesar! Not as much so as The Ladykillers or Burn After Reading. But I did enjoy the Coens amazing attention to detail. Even the scene where the single frame got melted due to the mishap of McDormand in the editing room got a nice "reward" with the 1/24th of a second blurp during the scene's playback. Or the way the credits were for the Hobie Doyle westerns (or all the movies actually).

The movie-within-a-movie stuff was where the entertaining moments shined. The movie is 100% Coen Brother all the way. But it's also Coen Brother that's more "odd & strange" than "exciting & appealing". At the end of the day, it's one of those experiences where the parts are greater than the whole. It's your typical Coen Brothers movie yet at the same time quite different than anything else they've done before (which is another trait of their films).

One comment I strongly disagree with you on is regarding "downhill since No Country". Inside Llewyn Davis was outstanding! So much so, that I'm considering if I like it better than Big Lebowski, True Grit, and No Country. I don't think anything they will do will beat Fargo (for me).