A Reel Review: ASTEROID CITY

Over time, stylistic director Wes Anderson has decided that traditional storytelling isn’t enough. Starting with his magnificent, Best Picture-nominated THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL in 2014, the quirky director has searched for multiple angles, perspectives, and layers to unspool his tales. For his 11^th feature, ASTEROID CITY, he pushes those new perspectives to even more places. 

In the fictional town of Asteroid City (a tiny settlement known for its famous asteroid strike years before), a junior Stargazer convention draws several strangers together, including a famous photographer (Jason Schwartzman) and his kids and father-in-law (Tom Hanks), a movie star (Scarlett Johansson), a military detachment (led by Jeffrey Wright), and a scientist at a local observatory (Tilda Swinton). After a strange visitor arrives, everyone is quarantined in the town for a week…

ASTEROID CITY does not have much by way of plot, and is mostly concerned with the several contrasting characters interacting; getting on each other’s nerves, falling in love, and occasionally breaking into song. Narration drives it, and here director Wes Anderson takes the film to another level. The events happening in the little town of Asteroid City are actually being performed in a stage play, and the film often cuts away from the town to a TV special (hosted by a Rod Serling-like character played by Bryan Cranston), where the creation of the play is documented. It’s bold, creative, and brilliant in places…but it is also jarring, and often we find the events within the play more interesting than what’s happening in the behind-the-scenes sequences. 

While Anderson is having fun throwing all these varying angles at us, he overlooks some of the things that we have come to love about his films. While the film is very funny in places, there is also a coldness to it; the charm and heart we are used from Anderson just isn’t there. Characters are distant and desperately need some heart. 

There is still plenty to enjoy in ASTEROID CITY. The humor is well-timed and the film looks gorgeous. Anderson’s trademarks of long tracking shots and precision framing are there and are excellent, and every frame is a painting. 

The cast is excellent despite everyone’s characters acting robotic. There is no traditional main character as it is truly an ensemble piece: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Rita Wilson, Tony Revolori, and Jeff Goldblum. 

There is frustration to be had in ASTEROID CITY because the parts that work, really work…and just when we are settling in and getting in the groove, the film awkwardly cuts away and kills the energy and momentum. There is a little too much ambition here, and things may have worked better if just stuck to one place. This may age well and improve over time, but for now, ASTEROID CITY strikes just as much as it misses. 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it