I just finished watching The French Dispatch. I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson and have seen all of his films. For me, The French Dispatch is indisputably his worst film. It has a great cast and a lot of style, but isn't very interesting or entertaining overall. The cinematography, production design, costumes, and score were good though. The story was lacking for me and it dragged on for far too long. This is Anderson's worst screenplay ever, in my opinion. My rating is a 6/10.
shareI don’t know about his *worst* (I really did not enjoy Darjeeling limited). Like you, I’ve seen all of his films and genuinely love most of them. Grand Budapest Hôtel is possibly one of my favorite movies of all time. That being said, as I was watching this last night, I could not help but feel Wes Anderson had achieved a whole new levels of pompous with The French Dispatch.
There are parts of the film I enjoyed, particularly the first vignette - though I felt very put off by Tilda Swinton and Adrien Brody (who was slightly more tolerable than in Grand Budapest). I felt that pompousness very strongly during the second vignette featuring Frances McDormand and Timothee Chalamet, and that’s when the film lost me. I really couldn’t tell you what the third vignette was about.
I couldn't have possibly zoned out anymore during the second one.
shareI don't understand why you love other Wes Anderson films if you are put off by "pompousness".
shareI liked it.
I thought that "The life aquatic with steve zissou" was his weakest.
5/10.
shareCredit where it's due: He at least got Lea Seydoux naked. In these Woke times, many directors are hesitant to put an actresses's charms on display
shareIt was refreshing to see a nude actress who isn't skeletal and whose breasts would not fit in a wine glass.
shareLea Seydoux would take her clothes off for a dime. She's the sort that needs convincing to stay dressed. She has that European 'nudity is beautiful and artistic' mindset.
Bless her.
Yeah, he's taken things too far, to the point of incomprehensibility. I even fell asleep a couple times. I thought the one about dogs was more of a dog than this one and I may still go and see this a second time, forearmed with what to expectorate, but he should get back to a single storyline and take a little more time so that we can actually appreciate and savor the wonderful images he is making, even if he is bored with watching them for the millionth time in the editing room.
shareI caught this film the other day. I have to agree, it's just not that good. The visuals are impressive though. I think the problem is you just get lost in the appearance of the film and the cutesy photography which, unfortunately made all the stories boring or just not very interesting.
It was good when it was focused on the characters that work at the Dispatch but the scenes they occupy are few and far between. They make up maybe 20 minutes or so of actual screen-time.
During the movie, I kept thinking "when is it going back to Bill Murray and those other characters".
Still, like most Anderson films, you watch them for the visuals, which again, are top-notch in this movie but the film falls short in ever other category. It's a 5 out of 10 from me.
I watched Moonrise Kingdom a few months ago and liked it a lot more than this. But I suppose Anderson films have never really done much for me.