85 Good Mins / 105 Min Runtime
Phones Reached For - 0
Oh Shit Moments - 1
Should You Go? YES
Asteroid City is good for everyone. The women laugh, the children get a desert field trip adventure, (YES YOU CAN BRING THE KIDS ON THIS ONE), the married men FEEL SOMETHING FOR ONCE, and the single pervs get, a tastefully quick, SCARLETT JOHANSSON NUDE SHOT, which really is a win for everyone except the kids, make sure to cover their eyes during the 2 second artistic nude and make sure they go home to play Call Of Duty so they forget all about it. I promise THAT IS THE ONLY SPOILER HERE. The movie is DELIGHTFULLY CUTE, so cute you could punch it in the face which I would attribute as Wes Andersons most redeeming quality. I am not going to critique the technique or story or acting of this movie, everything is triple A rated, beyond that the feeling is what matters and as the subjectee that is up to you. MOVIES ARE SUBJECTIVE.
There are SO MANY DRIPS AND DROPS of story and detail for you to decipher, interpret, and give meaning to in this one, which is a staple of Wes Anderson. You are FREE TO MAKE OF IT WHAT YOU WILL. He doesn't always tell you what is going on and so he's trusting you to figure it out for yourself and use your brain, which REQUIRES YOU TO BE AWAKE AND ATTENTIVE.
My small attribution of meaning comes with the 3 LITTLE GIRLS in this movie who really are secondary characters and do nothing, but also so much, for you. They gave me a feeling I remember so well, the feeling of the secondary field trip, the behind the scenes field trip experienced by THE DRAG-ALONGS, the field trip which no one considers. These are the siblings of the kid that's on the field trip, they have no choice in being there because their parent is the chaperone and they are forced to entertain themselves in the corner for a few days so they throw rocks at burned out cars and bury things to pass the time. These girls represent so many of us that have been the drag-alongs and it's a truly nostalgic experience.
2 Things To Remember
When seeing a movie like this:
1) THIS AIN'T NO RECESS MOVIE
THERE ISN'T A NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE EVERY 10 SECONDS. and therefore YOU WILL HAVE A HARD TIME PAYING ATTENTION. You need to give give yourself every possible advantage in order to fully enjoy a movie like this. Oddly enough the fact that there isn't any gunfire or explosions means THIS MOVIE IS BETTER SEEN IN THEATRES.
I was coming from work to make it to this movie and it was not easy. I had to get aggressive with my boss about leaving work at a reasonable time which also meant working my dick off to get the job done in time to leave early. I had to drive home, quick shower, and hustle to the train. I skipped dinner, grabbed popcorn and a monster energy drink (gross), and sat down just in time for the lights to go down. YOU WILL NEED AN ENERGY DRINK if you do the same. I'd like to formally propose someone start a petition for Cineplex to carry RedBulls or BioSteel and some fucking salads or wraps cause CHRIST ISN'T THAT THE MOST UNHEALTHY FOOD STAND IMAGINABLE, it's so bad they have MASSIVE ADS FOR OZEMPIC PLASTERED AT THE ENTRANCE like "Hey fatass, we know you're here cause who else watches movies".
DON'T WATCH THIS MOVIE AT HOME unless you're with a big group of people or you're on a treadmill or something. This type of movie is HARD TO GET THROUGH AFTER WORK cause it's competing with your couch, pyjamas, and cuddles (if your lucky). These are all the best sleep aids in the world and you will find yourself waking up to the credits 8 times out of 10. If you're not falling asleep you won't be fully enjoying the movie anyway cause you won't be able to resist your glowing slab and you WON'T BE LAUGHING AS MUCH. Seeing it in theatres means NO PHONES cause we all know you're a polite pushover like me and when that one guy yells "Turn your phone off" you're going to do it. Also watching with a huge group of people and everybody laughing together WILL MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE A HUMAN AGAIN, TRUST ME.
2) THIS IS A WEIRD EXPERIENCE.
This is what you sign up for when you see an Anderson. They will try to tell you that this movie sucks for a million different reasons but all I hear is that this movie isn't as good as the other Wes Anderson movies and that doesn't make any sense because he's deliberately trying to be different from the other movies. This is a guy obsessed with color, composition and cuteness he's not trying to impress anybody and that's why we like him. The whole point of these things is that unnerving feeling of weirdness and you should relish in it because most film makers aren't trying to make you feel anything except apathy. YOUR LIFE IS CONSTANTLY THE SAME, YOU'RE TRAPPED IN A BOX this will take you out of that for a brief moment and GIVE YOU SOME PERSPECTIVE.
My Takeaway
The worst part of this movie was that I had to watch the Oppenheimer trailer which I've been avoiding for what seems like years but don't worry this trailer somehow didn't ruin my expectations for the movie except for wondering how an idiot like Matt Damon got in the good graces of Christopher Nolan. I assume he's taking the Hitchcock view of "Big names are a necessary evil for big movies". What was really impressed on me by Asteroid City was a genuine feeling of similarity to Tenet in a very odd way where the creativity in terms of structure and format were of the caliber which should make an aspiring film maker want to quit. This movie gave me the feeling of potentially never being able to deliver such a fresh and obscure way of telling a story and that inspired me in a really depressing way. Wes Anderson has always been able to deliver that kind of beauty so however you felt about the story, or the characters, or the setting, or the imaging you can't deny the feeling delivered and the attempt at artistry.