Asteroid City features director Wes Anderson in his quirky, offbeat element. The film has his unique structure of eccentric characters dealing with themes of dysfunctional families and a plot that takes many unconventional turns. If you’re already indoctrinated into Anderson’s style of filmmaking, you’re bound to get caught up in his latest effort.
Asteroid City takes place in 1955 in a desert town of the same name. It deals with a single father, Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), taking his three kids to an astronomy convention. Augie has been reluctant to tell the children their mother has been dead for three weeks. Their car breaks down and Augie asks his father-in-law Stanley (Tom Hanks) to help him watch the kids. Stanley has a particular disdain for Augie but will help because he loves his grandchildren. Jake Ryan plays Woodrow, Augie’s oldest child and a stargazing competition winner.
Scarlett Johansson is Midge Campbell, an actress traveling with her daughter, who is also receiving an award at the convention. Augie and Midget get to know each other by talking outside their windows at the motel where they’re staying. Augie is also a photographer and takes several pictures of Midge. She approves.
Jeffrey Wright plays a general and Tilda Swinton plays a scientist who are also in town for the convention and to give out the awards. However, the ceremony gets interrupted when a UFO arrives and steals a meteorite that lands in Asteroid City. The people there are quarantined until the military can figure out why the alien arrived.
The movie alternates between the characters in Asteroid City in bright, exaggerated colors while a TV show presents the events of what happened in black-and-white. The black-and-white segments feature more famous names, including Bryan Cranston as the host, Willem Dafoe, Edward Norton, Jeff Goldblum, and Margot Robbie. These segments are pure Wes Anderson in terms of their delivery of oddball dialogue and their idiosyncratic performances. Anderson fans will no doubt appreciate his touches.
The performances by the cast and Anderson’s unapologetically unorthodox screenplay give Asteroid City the flavor it deserves. You know that when you’re watching a Wes Anderson film, you have to go into it knowing it’s going to be off the beaten path in terms of its characters and plot. It’s just a matter of whether or not you’re willing to go along for the ride. With Asteroid City, I was.
Anderson crafts characters with an eccentric charm that makes them surprisingly accessible. Schwartzmann and Johansson’s scenes are engaging. The rest of the cast is equally as accessible and almost never hits a farcical note. They know exactly what kind of story Anderson wants, and they play their roles with oddball ease and likability.
Steve Carell’s motel manager is an example of this trope.
Asteroid City probably won’t win any neophytes to Anderson’s peculiar forays, but it should and will entertain his fans. No more, no less.
Grade: A-
(Rated PG-13 for on appeal for brief graphic nudity, smoking and some suggestive material.)
