The writer-director’s knowing meta-tale set in a space-obsessed 1950s desert town has a starry cast and meticulous attention to detail, but its studied quirkiness is often more irritating than amusingNo one goes to a Wes Anderson movie expecting heartfelt melodrama or realistic human emotions and interactions.
They go for intricately crafted doll’s house dramas featuring boxes-within-boxes narratives and arch, satirical conundrums.
At best, these range from the piercingly acute family portraits of The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) to the bittersweet comedy capers of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and the delightfully off-the-wall stop-motion animation of Isle of Dogs (2018).
At worst, they put the “irk” into “quirky”, with The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and, more recently, The French Dispatch (2021) stretching patience to breaking point.This latest feature from the world’s most famous corduroy fan may nod cheekily towards the heyday of the Actors Studio but it’s as detachedly Andersonian as ever…
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