Asteroid City

I have never seen a more bizarre, unintelligent film at a movie theatre.

Let me start by saying that I am a big fan of director Wes Anderson. He has entertained us all over the years with such brilliant films like The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and Isle of Dogs (2018).

Here, however, he brings us a disjointed film masking as a work of cinematic art. You keep waiting for an intriguing story to emerge only to be left shaking your head as you watch a film devoid of a meaningful plot.

The movie takes place in the American West during the 1950s. (Forget the fact it was filmed in Spain). Filled with a list of great actors ranging from Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, William Dafoe and Tilda Swinton among others, their collective talent doesn’t save this disaster from imploding.

In summary, Mr. Anderson’s film has Bryan Cranston narrate the making of a T.V. show. We are invited behind the scenes in a desert town, Pop. 87, comprised of a gas station, a motel, a café, and a meteor crater. Known as Asteroid City, a group of “Junior Stargazers and Space Cadets” arrive to attend a convention.

Sure, an alien arrives, but it adds little meaning to a film lacking any significance. Let me just say that all the characters have personal issues, none more absurd than the father played by Jason Schwartzman. Having decided to not tell his four children that their mother died, he rewards them by bringing her cremated remains in a plastic bowl so they could dispose of her.

I’ll stop there. See this film only if you are looking for comfortable way to commit suicide.