Fellman's Movie Reviews

Asteroid City is a 2023 comedy drama written and directed by Wes Anderson. This particular Wes Anderson film is co-written with Roman Coppola. It has an ensemble cast, some of them who are frequently working with Anderson on his projects. The main characters in the film are Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Hanks, with smaller roles by Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schrieber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan and Jeff Goldblum.  

I can’t say it’s your typical Wes Anderson movie, because what is a typical Wes Anderson movie? But it has all the makings of a Wes Anderson movie. A story within a story. Slightly off readings by the characters. A strange setting interacting with the story within the story. Wes Anderson makes movies that don’t really make sense to anybody but Wes Anderson. Everybody else is just along for the ride. It’s a spectrum of directors that I like to put him on. He’s too creative to be artistic, and too artistic to be creative. So, he comes up with movies like this. It might not appeal to the masses, but for the people who like Wes Anderson movies, it’s an interesting style of cinema. 

This one in particular I really liked, because it started by telling you it was telling you a story, and then it went into the movie, and then it went back and forth, and sometimes, the characters from the story would be in the movie, and sometimes the characters from the movie would be in the parts explaining the story. In typical Wes Anderson style, it’s confusing, and you kind of have to sort things out a little bit to keep up with it. 

It’s a good story, though. The play, the alien, the success of the play, the results of the alien. It’s a whirlwind of features. And the dialogue is always fun in Wes Anderson movies. Jason Schwartzman has some of my favorite lines in the film. His conversations with Scarlett Johansson make up some of the best dialogue in the movie in my opinion. I still don’t get why he burns his hand on the grill. Explain that one to me, Wes… 

So, yeah. Go and see Asteroid City. If you’re a Wes Anderson fan, you’ll enjoy this as much as all of his other films. If you’re new to Wes Anderson, or if you’re just seeing something that you didn’t know was his before, it might seem a little weird at first. And, it is. There’s no doubt about that. But, give it a chance. It’s worth watching all the way through. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…