Wes Anderson looks to the stars in more ways than one for Asteroid City, a who's-who of earthbound A-listers joining his mix of 50s sci-fi, satirical shenanigans and misfit longing way out west.
That a director so beloved for his dry sense of humour would end up making a desert-set movie feels like fate. The finished film is an unexpected disappointment.
The September 1955 set-up sees junior astronomers descend upon a sweltering outpost town of 87, the hunger for knowledge put in the shade by the thirst for connection. Soon enough, strange things start happening in the heavens and in hearts as parents, boffins, big-wigs and more try to make sense of it all.
The fanfare that accompanied the Asteroid City trailer felt over the top after watching the two and a half minutes that were actually on offer. Now it turns out that the trailer was the perfect snapshot of a film that looks beautiful (Oscar nominations at the very least) yet fails in scene after scene to make you care about the characters.
It moves along at a zippy pace but never gets pulses racing, a curiously meh Tom Hanks - any actor of a certain age could've played the part - symptomatic of a comedy-drama that wants to make big desert-as-metaphor points about feeling lost but never finds that oasis of emotion. Marvel at the style and then wonder why the script doesn't stir the blood in the same way.
Anderson has done better. He will again.
