I didn't know what to expect from <em>'Asteroid City'</em>, yet I got exactly what I expected from this director... Wes Anderson, that! As usual: love the aesthetic, the exquisite colour palette and the usual Wes vibes. Always fun seeing a bunch of known faces appear throughout. Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson are the standouts. A fair few others do well too, namely Bryan Cranston and Jeffrey Wright. Steve Carell is amusing in a small role, also. I've enjoyed some of Anderson's other works much more (<em><a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/fantastic-mr-fox/" rel="nofollow">'Fantastic Mr. Fox'</a></em>, <em><a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/the-french-dispatch/" rel="nofollow">'The French Dispatch'</a></em>), the story didn't totally hook me here if I'm honest, but this one is very much still a good film in my opinion.

Top tongue-in-cheek directors: Wes Anderson and Wen Jiang. Asteroid City isn't my favorite Wes film, but it's surely tongue-in-cheek and pretty damn funny. This movie reminds me a little of Tennessee Williams, the all-time master of damaged and traumatized human psyches. I see this work as a treatise on human issues, especially the labels given to us by others and those we give ourselves, and how they affect one's life and relationships. The partial view of the "Confessions of a Narcissist" marquis that showed up in the background of the tet-a-tet between Augie and his almost-onstage-wife is a clue. The term "narcissist" didn't become popular psychology until the 1980s. There were other anachronisms, but this one is particularly striking in context. And what's with that song and dance number in the middle of the show? The band that showed up in this desert had no other raison d'etre!! Did Wes just reference the Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show??

Most critics have their personal favorite directors, and it’s sometimes a challenge to keep strict objectivity when reviewing one of their projects. That’s why it pains me to write about “Asteroid City,” the sluggish, smug, exasperating new film from co-writer and director Wes Anderson. In what is unquestionably his worst film by a mile, Anderson leans too heavily on his ordered, signature visual symmetry, saturated color palate, and A-list cast while completely forgetting how to make an entertaining movie. The film takes place in a tiny desert town (famous for their giant crater) where the Junior Stargazers and Space Cadets are holding their awards convention. The event brings together students and their parents, all oddballs in their own right, from all over the country. When a UFO is spotted, the visitors are quarantined until the government deems it safe for them to return to the real world. The plot is thin yet confusing, as the film simultaneously depicts the events of the convention in the form of a stage play, the creation of the play, and the actual events in a retro version of 1955. With so much going on, you’d think it would be at least mildly interesting, but the movie is sluggish and packed with conversational and head-scratching filler that lends nothing to the story. There is a wacky cast of (too many) characters, and only a handful turn out to be memorable. The expected roster of Anderson regulars make an appearance (Jason Schwartzman, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson) as well as big names that are new to working with the director (Bryan Cranston, Tom Hanks, Maya Hawke, Matt Dillon, Steve Carell, Liev Schreiber, Hong Chau, Jake Ryan). It’s a dream of a cast list, but this film goes to show that a talented roster doesn’t always result in a gem. There’s nothing wrong with any of the performances, but it’s the source material that needs a lot of work. “Asteroid City” may be visually delightful, but it is filled with a detached, hipster indifference that’s off-putting. This is one of the biggest failures of the year, and it’s not because the film is “too Wes Anderson-y,” nor is it because of the general Anderson fatigue: this movie is a series of flagrant missteps that cause the project to flounder and fall.