The Phoenician Scheme

Screened at Festival Theaters, Palm Springs, California

For me, the best way of rating Wes Anderson's films of late is the sleeping system. It's really simple, but it's a pattern I can't ignore. It started with The French Dispatch. I was really looking forward to that one, for whatever reason I felt it was bringing me back into the fold. However, I nearly fell asleep, and for sure zoned out a few times. That was REALLY unusual for me to do at the cinema, so I took note of it. Then Asteroid City came out, and I was REALLY looking forward to it. What looked like a true time capsule back to the flight-of-fancy 50s desert Americana, was just that. Of course it was, Anderson nails the visuals each and every time, an undeniable fact. But, while brief, I had a couple moments where I was OUT. Eyes closed, nearly snoring. It was truly sleep-inducing. I wanted to like it so bad.

Now, I'm happy to report his latest, 12th film, only got me drowsy. There was enough there for me to power through it, thanks to what seemed like a shorter running time, and some unexpected "violence" which was a strangely, welcome addition right from the start. Thus, a 3-star rating, slightly drowsy. As for the film itself, I don't think we need to get into it. You go for whimsical, and whimsical is what you get. As always, you get EXACTLY what you expect and want from one of Anderson's flicks at this point. It's almost hard to say, but I think most would be disappointed if you didn't get that experience. It's more of an endurance test, of how much fucking whimsical you can handle, and for me it was just OK, Didn't love it, didn't get annoyed. Just drowsy. But I must warn you that if the END FUCKING CREDITS being the most whimsical thing here - crazy fonts and scrolling effects and all that - could potentially bother you, well, there you go, you've been warned. It's really fucking whimsical.