Asteroid City 2023
Wes Anderson has been on a nice roll the last few years and while some were disappointed with The French Dispatch, I thought it showed he was still on a roll. Asteroid City is not his best work, but still has its own rewards. Set in the 1950's, he taps into Atomic Age and UFO genres to some extent, but really the movie is about a bunch of eccentric characters, generally played by very talented actors. If for no other reason, it is fun seeing who will show up next and how they will play the card they have drawn from the stack. The plot is pretty minimal here and the characters unfortunately are just characters, not really fleshed out like they often are. I think maybe there are just a few too many characters to really develop everyone. Plus there is a movie within a movie thing going on that waters the plot down even further, while adding in even more characters. Still, other than a line hammered into the viewers towards the end of the movie, it is all easy enough to watch. I enjoyed the movie, but it lacks some of the richness of Wes Anderson's better movies.
Written: 30 Jun 2023