Asteroid City

As much as I love the artistic visuals and whimsical charm of a Wes Anderson film, this one was mildly disappointing. There were long speeches that didn't land with humor, weird pacing issues, and a nested framing device of a TV broadcast, the play, and its real-world creators that didn't do anything for me. Maybe it would take a repeat viewing, because the intention behind this was confusing, and it overshadowed the fine little moments that were scattered throughout the movie. As with The French Dispatch, the cast is jam-packed with stars, but unnecessarily so, as many seemed underused, and it felt like there were too many characters. This one needed simplification, a better story, and more heart.

Let me start off by saying: I have seen all of Wes Anderson's movies (including his ad work and his short movies), some of them even multiple times.

I can therefore certainly appreciate his quirky and unique style that made him a favorite at various film schools and among art-house movie lovers.

Asteroid City feels like a very concentrated version of his latest movies in a bland desert setting:

The black-and-white scenes in old TV formatting as well as the theatre-like setups reminded me of the "The French Dispatch" (2021) in particular. The newest movie doubles down on these "theatre/stage play" concepts, the sum of all parts unfortunately feels like a Wes Anderson overdose at times:

Too many actors (the usual staple of big-name actors is larger than ever in this one, only Bill Murray seems to be missing), yet with no real lead role present and very little character development.

The overall plot appears to be going nowhere until the credits roll - while the 1950's SF sub-"plot" also feels wasted when the Alien in his bright green UFO has a screen appearance about as short as the mythical 'Jaguar shark' in Wes' classic "The Life Aquatic" (2004).

Asteroid City looks like Wes jumped the shark on his own ideas and prior body of work.

Overall, the movie unfortunately feels too dry, stiff and boring to me (I would never write this about a prior Wes Anderson movie), even with its relatively short running time.

Summary: Asteroid City will most likely only please and appeal to his most hardcore fans. Another IMDB reviewer summed it up perfectly with this headline: "Nothing happens in the middle of nowhere".

4/10 , maybe rounded up to 5/10 for the (as always) beautiful decor and the immaculate attention to detail.

I hope Wes returns to "real" film-making one day. I wanted to see a "real" movie by Wes Anderson, not a "Wes Anderson doing Wes Anderson" stage play in the desert.

PS: (Edit). I have since found two professional reviews that almost perfectly match my impressions (quoted via Wikipedia):

"A review in the Alton Telegraph entitled, "'Asteroid City' script lacks direction and plot," said, "'Asteroid City' made no sense. The script was mind-numbing. I saw several people nod off because they were bored." Time Magazine's review was titled "Asteroid City Is Too Stiff and Stylized-Even for a Wes Anderson Movie, " saying "Wes Anderson's Asteroid City is what happens when a filmmaker's world of wonder and whimsy becomes a prison."

Yes, indeed. Asteroid City is what happens when a filmmaker's quirky world becomes a prison.

Wes Anderson has always been a favorite director of mine. I have seen all his movies - but for me, the magic is gone.

I feel like The Grand Budapest Hotel was his masterpiece. Where every aspect that makes his films special was at its peak. The characters, the cast, the sets and, of course, the visuals were up to an 11. His craft was perfected - and it's one of my top 5 films of all time.

When I saw Isle of Dogs, I started to feel full. I felt like I had seen Wes's style a bit too much. And now this.

I feel that Asteroid City is pretty bland. The visuals are fantastic - but we've seen this all before. Instead of a compelling lead who has an interesting problem to solve - we get several bland characters who are quirky, and that's it. The acting is great though. But it's not that funny nor intriguing.

We were eight friends who saw this film together. Every one of us was pretty bored after a while. One of us really liked it though - but she had only seen 50% of a Wes Anderson film before. The rest of us felt... full.

People were laughing in the quaint historic theater I watched this film in. But I was not. I laughed one time, when you watch it you'll know the time.

The striking thing about these last couple of Wes Anderson movies is how they're becoming a parody of themselves. I can appreciate film as art vs film as entertainment. This takes entertainment disguised as art and commercializes it to a degree I find distasteful.

It was a pretty film. I loved the colors. I can respect it's aesthetic and that's where all the stars came from. I also love Schwartzmann.

The way the story was told as some kind of slowly unfolding meta-melodrama of a play within a film managed to completely chop the film into indigestible pieces. Ive rarely been that disinterested in the plot of a film.

Last thought. What on earth makes all of these famous actors want to be in these films??? Is it money? Is it the desire to see your own face with some pretty symmetrical colors in the background? Wes Anderson hasn't made a good film in years. We can continue to respect him from afar for doing something unique. Far enough away we don't have to watch....

This is by far the worst of his movies. Such an incredible cast and he did nothing with them, the acting is good but the lack of an interesting story is unbelievable. It's a pretty film, yes, but even visually, it's the least interesting from his work. French dispatch was his first strike, Asteroid city is his second, really hope there's not a third. Hope he hires a good writer or writers to help him with his next films. We know he can do art direction, photography, and a few funny bits, but he needs someone to help him with plots. Really, with such an amazing cast, to come up with this, is so so so sad. What a waste. Truly disappointed.