MOVIE OF THE WEEK (6/23/23): ASTEROID CITY
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| "Hello? Otto? I don't know A Man Called Otto – this is a entirely different cinematic story, sir!" Auggie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) chats with the father (Tom Hanks) of his now-deceased wife about his current plight in the mysterious desert town of ASTEROID CITY. Credit: © Courtesy of Pop.87 Productions/Focus Features |
WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson
THE BACK STORY: A story within a story, ASTEROID CITY begins with a narrator (Bryan Cranston) who introduces us to Conrad Earp (Ed Norton), a 1950s-era playwright in the throes of his latest work: "Asteroid City," a desert town somewhere in between California, Nevada and New Mexico (presumably near Route 66) famous for its asteroid crater. A group of high school geniuses is about to converge on the one gas station, one diner and 10-spot motel town (population 87) for the awarding of a scholarship, which will be presented by General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright).
Driving one of the geniuses is Auggie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a man accompanied by his three aspiring witch elementary school age daughters named after constellations and Woodrow (Jake Ryan), his eldest child that has already figured out what his dad needs to tell the family: Their mother died three weeks ago. But once their car breaks down and the town mechanic (Matt Dillon) says it's gone for good, that prompts Auggie to call his father in law Stanley (Tom Hanks) to pick up the girls while his son attends the high school event.
Also attending the gathering? Film actress Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson) with her estranged genius daughter (Maya Hawke), Roger Cho (Steven Park) with his school newspaper genius son Ricky (Ethan Josh Lee) and J.J. Kellogg (Liv Schreiber) with his "someone dare me" son Clifford (Aristou Meehan).
Outside the pages of "Asteroid City," however, the production team has its own issues as its director (Adrien Brody) is going through a personal turmoil and Earp is having trouble getting his story to progress.
THE REVIEW: I am going to open this in the tone and pace of a standard Wes Anderson character.
At 6:30 p.m., the screening started.
At 6:36 p.m., I checked my watch as I knew I was in for a long cinematic experience.
At 6:52 p.m., I contemplated leaving the theater and acting as if I had achieved something in true Wed Anderson character fashion, knowing I would be exposed by my fellow critics would not let me get away with my actions.
At 7:06 p.m., I nearly fell asleep until I felt my body slump in my non-reclined Barcalounger
At around 7:50 p.m., something interesting happened. There was also a moment of nudity that, while unnecessary, broke up the monotony of the pretentious, self-indulgent, quirky for the sake of quirky characters with dialogue that is supposed to feel artistic and stylish but in reality is overwrought if not also often nonsensical.
At about 8:10 p.m., I began preparing for the eventual summation scenes that, despite so much build up, will have hardly any true resolution and the film will just end awkwardly.
By 8:30 p.m., my nightmare was over, serving as a reminder to never give it to the temptation to watch another Wes Anderson film again only to realize I will somehow likely be suckered back in this vicious cycle yet again.
Wes Anderson films aren't about anything but Wes Anderson. The characters are always the same. The may vary in terms of age, ethnicity or sexual orientation, but THEY. ARE. ALL. THE SAME. They speak in ways no human being would ever speak, both in terms of vocabulary, sentence structure or the way they interact with one another, from their clipped, hushed tones to the robotic, emotionally unavailable yet wishing they could be mannerisms.
There is always a child that is smarter than an adult (a staple of an Anderson composition). There is always a person trying to control something that is not in their control (in this instance, it's Wright as a general trying to keep order in a small desert town, Schwartzman as a new widow and Hanks as his estranged father in law) ... And there is always a woman who or two that is beautiful but is very self-aware of how their physical presence is harmful to themselves or others (see Johansson's character as a mother) ... There's also always Jason Schwartzman and Tilda Swinton.That's just a fact.
Asteroid City isn't just bloated by the staples of Anderson's films. It's also got the story within a story thing happening and one is far more interesting than the other, which simply seems to serve no purpose than to find a way for Cranston to provide his best Rod Serling imitation while Norton channels his best Truman Capote. It's never feels like an homage, however – it just exists. And therein lies the problem.
As is the case with so many of Anderson's films – The Fantastic Mr. Fox standing out as exception more and more with each new release – these stories just exist. There is nothing captivating, enthralling, enticing, exploratory or exciting. They just take up space on the screen like the characters often do in each other's realities. That's before you get into the whole discussion of how the story-within-a-story doesn't work one iota, instead becoming a jumbled ensemble (an Anderson staple on steroids in ASTEROID CITY) with characters just taking up time and energy that should have been devoted to focusing on just a few to make a better film. (I don't know what it is that makes actors go "I can have four lines for a non-memorable character in a 2-hour Wes Anderson movie?! I'll take it!" but given that he repeatedly can find big names that will do it, I'm just happy he directs movies instead of political campaigns.)
It's like being in a coffee shop with a hipster who is annoyed with other hipsters trying to be the ultimate hipster to establish their dominance ... Only for those hipsters to be attempting the exact same thing to the chagrin of everyone else in the room who just wanted fresh java to start their day. Wes Anderson movies are only for people who like complaining about people who don't "get" Wes Anderson movies, which reinforces Wes Anderson's want and desire to make them regardless of whether he actually should.
In the end, the reality of Anderson's latest work is this: 20+ plus years of watching the same movie has left this reviewer with a strong desire for an asteroid to obliterate whatever scripts he has waiting in the wings.
OVERALL RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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