Asteroid City
2023
*½
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis
In 1955, families gather in the desert town of Asteroid City for the Junior Stargazer convention. Or actually, the whole thing is a stage play framed by a black and white documentary about staging the play. Wes Anderson's formalistic style has always been an acquired taste, but latest by The French Dispatch, he seemed to disappear entirely up his own ass. These days, Anderson doesn't even attempt to feature a compelling narrative or characters who resemble human beings. Thankfully this time we get only one story instead of three. The cast is amazing once again, on paper at least, but the film and the dialogue flowed over me like water off a duck's back.
