You know what to expect when you go see a Wes Anderson movie, as his shtick is persistent across all his work there are endless spoofs of a bunch of classic movies done in Wes Anderson style. I have not seen all of his work but I love The Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox, and I quite like Moonrise Kingdom and The French Dispatch.

Asteroid City is definitely true to form in every sense, though it marks Wes’ first foray into the sci-fi genre. His trademark visual style is all there: his obsession with symmetry, characters standing still facing the screen with deadpan expressions, distinctive color palettes, objects placed precisely centered, etc. It was amusing to a degree, but after about five minutes, I have to admit I was becoming tired of it. Granted I was watching this on the plane on a recent trip, but I don’t know that seeing this on the big screen would improve my experience.

The second thing you notice is the all-star cast… it’d take up a third of my review just to list them all, so just look at the poster. There’s such a thing where having so many famous actors would actually become a distraction and I kept thinking ‘Wow, how did he manage to get all these talents to do this movie??’

Now, I usually love movies that feature a play within a movie, so I was intrigued by the intro where a TV host (Bryan Cranston, who did a great job mimicking Twilight Zone’s narrator Rod Serling) presents a live production of Asteroid City by famed playwright named Conrad Earp. So the entire movie takes place in this fictional desert town where a youth astronomy convention is being held. Wes uses color coding and screen ratio to distinguish between the events within the play (done in widescreen in stylized color) and the TV special itself (4:3 Academy ratio in black/white)

The film switches back and forth between the two but I find it difficult to really immerse myself in the story as I was constantly distracted by the overly stylized presentations. At the end of the day, no matter how stunning or creative a movie is, what we as the audience crave is to connect with the characters and empathize with what they’re going through. I had a hard time connecting with any of the people featured in the Asteroid City play, as they themselves were playing imaginary characters.

The main actor of the play (Augie, played by Jason Schwartzman) says in the movie he doesn’t quite understand the play, only to be told by the play director (Adrien Brody) that it doesn’t matter and to just keep telling the story. Well, I can relate to Augie in that I have no idea what the play is about either. Augie’s relationship with a famous but dispirited actress Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson sporting a Liz Taylor hairdo) gets the most screen time but it lacks any kind of real passion, though Johansson is the only one that conveys a semblance of emotional resonance.

All the other famous actors are pretty much wasted as they’re barely given anything challenging or memorable to do. The likes of Tom Hanks, Ed Norton, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Steve Carrell, even Willem Dafoe have such little impact here. The smarty teens are actually pretty memorable, and I was quite amused by seeing British Rupert Friend having a ball as a country singer.

There is a lot of dialog but not much of it registers and most is devoid of emotion. The humor doesn’t land either, I didn’t laugh even once the entire movie as I was too busy scratching my head. To say this film is style over substance is a giant understatement, as everything (narrative, plot, acting) plays second fiddle to Wes’ visual style. He clearly cares most about how every little set piece appears on screen, to the detriment of the story. He’s been cowriting his scripts with Roman Coppola, perhaps it’s time to branch out and actually be creative with his writing to match the visuals.

Fans of his work would likely adore the cinematography, but while everything looks meticulously designed with his trademark pastel colors, the set pieces feel so artificial and fake. Yes, it’s likely deliberate because it’s a make-believe world within the movie, but it further alienates viewers. Ironically, the most amusing bits actually involve a cartoonish-looking alien so I wonder if this movie might work better if it had been done as a claymation or animated feature.

Overall this is an exercise of self-indulgence and soulless nonsense. It reeks of pretentiousness and even arrogance. Now, I actually like quirky, bizarre movies but weird movies should still have a plot and something to say. Perhaps when a filmmaker thinks he has achieved ‘auteur’ status he feels he can do whatever he wants. I hope that is not the case with Wes, but after seeing this, it makes me reluctant to check out his work going forward.

What do you think of ASTEROID CITY?
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